The Park Hill South swimming team dominated in the NKCSD Invitational, coming out on top over 22 schools at Gladstone Community Center on September 17.
Park Hill South senior Derek Long helped lead the Panthers to a first-place finish at the NKCSD Invitational at Gladstone Community Center on September 17.
Park Hill South finished with 311 points, which was 13 points more than the next best team, Rockhurst. Platte County and Park Hill were also both at the Invite with the Pirates taking 13th place with 80 points and the Trojans earning 20th place with 11 points.
The Panthers impressed in the 100-yard butterfly, having three consecutive finishers in the top-5. Alex Briggs finished in third place in 54.36 seconds, followed by Derek Long in 54.47 seconds and Roman Lewis in 54.58 seconds.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Henry Snider earned sixth place in 5:00.72 and Isaac Dierker took tenth place in 5:18.97. Gentry Comstock finished in ninth place in the 100-yard backstroke, immediately followed by Jack Francis-Cummins in 58.68 seconds.
Jacob Duckworth collected second place in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:01.47. Snider finished in sixth place in 1:49.32 and Briggs took 11th place in 1:52.12 in the 200-yard freestyle.
Park Hill South also did well in the relays with a first place and two second place finishes. Duckworth, Long, Drew Franklin and Lewis won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:29.26.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Francis-Cummins, Duckworth, Briggs and Snider ended with a time of 1:40.05. The Panthers’ 400-yard freestyle relay completed the race in 3:15.94 including Long Snider, Briggs and Lewis.
Behind Park Hill South was Platte County which finished in sixth place in the 400-yard freestyle relay and 12th place in the 200-yard medley relay. Gage Jonkman, Palmer Keith, Collin Burton and Deacon Gutshall were on both relay teams and finished with times of 1:49.54 and 3:29.98.
Gutshall finished in 13th place in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:53.04 and seventh place in the 400-yard freestyle in 5:01.68. Palmer took seventh place in the 100-yard fly in 55.58 seconds and third place in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing the race with a time of 1:02.96.