Senior Judy Elful is the only returning Park Hill South athlete who won a state medal as an individual last year.
Park Hill South has a talented group of athletes in all four classes who are primed for impressive campaigns during the track and field season.
The Lady Panthers will look to their senior stars Ella Conklin and Judy Elful this season. Conklin is coming off an impressive cross-country outing from last fall and has already signed to continue her long-distance running career at Missouri Southern University.
Conklin made it to state in the 800-meter run the last two springs and will look to go a perfect three-for-three as her freshman season was cancelled. At the 2022 Class 5 State Meet, Elful claimed eighth place in the 100-meter hurdles and qualified in the 300-meter hurdles but couldn’t get past preliminaries as she will look to teach freshman hurdler Brooklyn Verdi the ropes.
Madi Conklin is the younger sister of Ella Conklin and will be another talented long-distance runner for Park Hill South. The freshman was an all-state cross-country runner last fall and is set to be in the 4x800-meter relay, 800-meter run and 1,600-meter run.
“Our team is once again very big and I’m looking forward to seeing the new athletes that have joined us and what they can provide in the 19 events,” Park Hill South girls’ track and field coach Chris Leibrand said. “I’m also happy to have 22 seniors on the team. In the past we’ve had less than 10, so having 22 means that the assistants and I are providing not only great coaching, but a welcoming environment in which all athletes can belong.”
Addison Bjorn and Ava Miles just wrapped up impressive freshman campaigns in the basketball season and will both be doing jumping events, while Miles will also be doing short sprints. Sophomore Lily DiBernardo will add depth to the sprinting events – doing the 100 and 200-meter dashes, along with relays – and Lauren Smith will do the pole vault.
The Lady Panthers will have a trio of seniors leading the way in throwing events. Bella Patton will do discus, while Abby Fox and Reagan Kelley will throw the javelin.
The Park Hill South boys will be returning some speedy relays from 2022. Last year at state, the Panthers took eighth-place in the 4x100, sixth place in the 4x200 and qualified in the 4x400 despite being 3.42 seconds too slow to get past preliminaries.
Briggs Bartosh, Troy Mosby and Shane Smith were on both relays that finished on the podium to claim medals in the largest class in Missouri. Charles Noland was on the 4x100, but there’s an open spot on the 4x200 as Noah Beckert has since graduated.
Park Hill South will look to find a fast replacement for Beckert for the longer relay as the returning sprinters have been training during the winter to prep for the track season. Bartosh has confidence in the Panthers’ chances this spring and told the Platte County Citizen about the expectations following his junior campaign.
“Running in two different events at state and being top-8 in both is amazing,” Park Hill South senior Briggs Bartosh said after the 2022 Class 5 State Track and Field Meet. “In the 4x100, we have two sophomores and two juniors, so next year we have all of us back and we’re taking first place at state.”
Park Hill South also has some young, talented long-distance runners, led by Thomas Garrett who finished in the top-third at the Class 5 Cross-Country State Meet this past fall. Freshman Grant Windmeyer and sophomore Zachary Hilzinger – along with upperclassmen Tanner Clippard, Timothy Tasler and Ethan Irving – are also coming off impressive cross-country seasons and are looking to translate that to the track this spring.