Park Hill South junior Olivia Clemons was a force to be reckoned with for the Lady Panthers, scoring 17 goals and being the Kansas City Suburban Conference Silver Division Offensive Player of the Year.
Along with two all-state track athletes, the girls’ soccer team was the last Park Hill South squad to be standing as the spring season wrapped up.
With five sports in the spring, the Lady Panthers’ soccer squad continued in dominance of years past and reached the district championship. Posting a 30-11-1 record in the last two seasons, Park Hill South kept that strong play going as it won the opening 10 games.
Playing in the Blue Springs South Tournament was the turning point with seven of the final nine games of the regular season being losses. Park Hill South clinched the No. 2 seed in the Class 4 District 8 Tournament, eliminating St. Joseph’s Central and Liberty to move to the championship where it lost to Liberty North, the eventual undefeated state champions.
Park Hill South senior Judy Elful and junior T.J. McGhee were both all-state track athletes. Elful ended her high school career with a seventh-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles and a sixth-place medal in the 300-meter hurdles.
McGhee broke the program record in pole vault on multiple occasions this spring, lastly at state. He tied his PR in his final meet, tying for eighth place with a 13-9-foot vault.
Troy Mosby, Shane Smith, Briggs Bartosh and Darrien Jones assembled the 4x200-meter relay team that ran the fastest time in Park Hill South history. Unfortunately for the four, a dropped baton in the preliminary race doomed their chances to medal as they were disqualified.
On the tennis court, Park Hill South had its best season since 2011. While this season didn’t end in a district title, the Panthers had a 13-4-1 record, its most wins since posting a 14-2 record 12 years prior.
Going 4-2 at home and 5-1 on the road, Park Hill South recovered from a 2-3-1 start and won the next 11 matches, one of which was in the postseason. After beating Oak Park 5-0 in the first round of the Class 3 District 8 Tournament, the Panthers lost in the semifinals to Liberty.
The Panthers’ baseball team strong play fizzled off after an 8-2 start albeit they still finished above .500. With some tough breaks in the back half of the season that saw three separate losing streaks – including four in a row at one point – the Panthers won three of the last five games ahead of the postseason.
Being the No. 4 seed in the Class 6 District 8 Tournament, Park Hill South matched up with Oak Park and dug itself in a large hole and couldn’t dig out. The Panthers lost 12-1 to end the year with an 18-16 record and had to bid farewell to a talented senior class, including six all-conference players.
The Panthers took ninth place in the Class 5 State Golf Tournament, led by Keegan Feder. He shot an 80 on both days to end with 190 strokes, tying for 56th place.
Lucas Nichols was one stroke behind, being in a 7-way tie for 58th place. Drew Hurley ended in 76th place with 167 strokes and Matthew Parker had 173 strokes to place 82nd.