With more highs than lows throughout the year, Park Hill made a name for itself from the northland to state in a variety of sports this season.
While no team held up a gold trophy as state champions, some individuals shined. The Trojans had slightly more success than the Lady Trojans.
The Trojans’ soccer team was close to returning to the Class 4 State Semifinals for the second straight season but gave up a late goal against Rockhurst in the quarterfinals to lose 1-0. Park Hill finished in third place in 2020 and had one less win this year, ending at 15-9-1.
In the first year of the Andy Sims era, the Trojan football team made strides from the prior season to finish with a postseason win and a 5-6 record. Park Hill had an up and down season, mirroring its wins and losses throughout the year after losing the season opener to Lee’s Summit West.
Following a 0-1 start, the Trojans rattled together four consecutive victories, where they outscored their opponents 149-67, before falling short in the final four games of the regular season. The Trojans then played at Park Hill District Stadium for two straight postseason contests – although they were technically the road team in the district semifinals loss when they matched up with top-seeded Park Hill South who they share the field with – and went 1-1 in the Class 6 District 4 Tournament to finish one game shy of .500.
The Trojans basketball team had a similar start to what the football team had, winning the first four games before losing their next three contests. Park Hill put together 16 wins opposed to 10 losses before falling in the opening round of the tough Class 6 District 8 Tournament against North Kansas City.
The Trojans were led by junior twins Marqueas and Kendrick Bell in scoring, while the team was running and gunning 3-pointers all year long, pouring out 205 made shots from behind the arc, at a 33.3% rate. Marqueas Bell scored 19.7 points per game and Kendrick Bell averaged 14.7 points per game.
The Park Hill baseball team struggled at times throughout the spring when it went 1-1 in the postseason and wrapped the year with an 8-20 record. The Trojans also had some high moments in individual sports throughout the 2021-22 school year.
Baker Fredal was the lone Park Hill state qualifier in golf when the junior finished in a three-way tie for 42nd place with 162. Eli Stammler, Jack Stanley and Raphael Realina were the three Trojan swimmers to make it to state.
In wrestling, Park Hill took seventh place at state with 69 points when four of the five Trojans who made it that far brought home a medal. Seniors Cael Keck (132) and Kal Miller (145) both collected silver medals, while Erik Egstad and Kody Ketchum finished in fifth place in the 106 and 138-weight classes.
The Park Hill tennis team sent the doubles team of Tommy Matthys and Kobe Smith to state – where the duo finished in eighth place – following the highest winning percentage in program history. En route to winning the first district championship since 2010 and the first Kansas City Suburban Conference Gold Division Title in more than a decade, the Trojans ended with a 19-3 record.
In track and field, senior Cadence Bass out-jumped the entire state as he earned a gold medal in high jump. Kendrick Bell joined him on the podium with a seventh-place finish.
P.J. Caldwell used last season’s state disqualification in the 110-hurdles as motivation to return this spring where he finished in fourth place. Jordan Smith heaved the javelin 51.69 meters to earn seventh place and the 4x100-meter relay team claimed fourth place.
For the Park Hill girls, the only squads to win district title were the volleyball and tennis teams. The Lady Trojans’ volleyball team took down Platte County in five sets in the Class 5 District 16 Championship before being swept in the next postseason match against Liberty North to close out the season 12-16-1.
The Park Hill girls’ tennis team finished in fourth place at the Class 3 State Tournament. The Lady Trojans lost 5-0 to Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School in the semifinals and then fell 5-1 to St. Teresa’s Academy.
The Lady Trojans’ basketball team was on the verge of matching the volleyball team’s success in the winter when Park Hill took down Staley, the No. 1 seed, in the Class 6 District 8 Semifinals. Park Hill advanced to the district title game but came up short against St. Joseph’s Central.
Senior Kennedy Townsend, who earned all-state honors and will continue her academic and athletic career at Creighton University, missed some time with an injury but led Park Hill to a 17-11 record. Townsend scored 21.6 points and snagged 6.7 rebounds, while shooting 47 percent from the field and making 39.3 percent from downtown.
In their high school debuts, freshmen Allison Gonier and Lena Vargas helped the Lady Trojan wrestling team claim the first state plaque in program history. Vargas became a state champion in the 115-weight class when she only lost one of her 42 matches all season and was also chosen as the Kansas City Suburban Conference Gold Division Wrestler of the Year.
Gonier went 42-6 in the season, as she fought her way to a third-place finish in the 120-weight class. Taryn Johnson ended her Park Hill career with a state appearance before becoming the first Lady Trojan to commit to wrestle in college as she is set to compete at Missouri Baptist University next year.
In the first year under Kylie Guthier, the Park Hill softball team finished 8-11. The Lady Trojans’ soccer team ended the spring with a 5-16 record on a 2-0 loss to Staley in the Class 4 District 8 Tournament.
Alyssa Ball, above left, and Cali Richards, above right, go in for a hug after breaking the Park Hill 4x100-meter relay record at the Class 5 State Meet on May 28.
In track and field, the Lady Trojan 4x100-meter relay team of Alyssa Ball, Cali Richards, Mackenzie Moretina and Jamari Ervin broke the school record at state with a time of 48.72 seconds to earn sixth place. Lauren Carpenter had a 3.42-meter pole vault to take fourth place.
The Lady Trojan swimming team competed in a handful of state events but only Emma Owen advanced past the opening day as the freshman took 15th place in the 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 5:28.40. Natalie Gerdes was the only Lady Trojan to make it to state in cross-country as she finished in 16th place overall.