The Park Hill boys’ track & field team dazzled at the Staley Relays, finishing ahead of all 11 teams that competed on April 1.
The Trojans narrowly toppled the home team for the first-place honors as Park Hill ended with 89.93 points and Staley was close behind with 87.93 points. Next up was Platte County with 69.92 points and Park Hill South ended in sixth place with 63.9 points.
There were eight relays at the meet with only two individual running events – the 1,600-meter run and the 300-meter hurdles. There were four relays that aren’t in normal track meets where each runner may run different distances, in addition to the 4X100, 4X200, 4X400 and 4X800-meter relays.
Park Hill ended in second place in the 100-100-200-400 meter medley relay in 1:37.32, with Park Hill South earning fifth place with a time of 1:39.53 and Platte County was in eighth place with a 1:42.38 time. In the 200-200-400-800 meter medley relay, the Trojans were the second relay team to finish in 3:49.16 – just 3.47 seconds ahead of the Pirates who earned third place – and the Panthers ended in seventh place with a time of 4:13.83.
Park Hill South earned fourth place in the 1,200-400-800-1,600 meter medley relay with a time of 11:36. Platte County ended in 11:55.99, good for sixth place, and Park Hill finished in eighth place with a 12:22.53 time.
Park Hill senior P.J. Caldwell had an impressive outing when he finished in first place in the 300-meter hurdles in 41.32 seconds and helped the Trojans’ 4X110-meter shuttle hurdles’ relay team finish in first place with a time of 1:08.16. Ammon Runyan and Will Bushman finished in seventh and eighth places in the 300-meter hurdles, while Platte County freshman Caden McGhee ended in fifth place with a time of 44.72 seconds.
The Trojans also had the top-3 finishers in the high jump: Cadence Bass, Desire Tonye-Nyemeck and Kendrick Bell. Bass won the event with a leap of 1.98 meters, followed by Tonye-Nyemeck and Bell tied in second place with 1.93 meter jumps.
Platte County junior Zay’Quan Hall and Park Hill South junior Ricky Guillory were in a four-way tie for seventh place with a hop of 1.72 meters. The Hills had three of the top-6 pole vaulters led by Park Hill senior Chancellor Caudle in first place with a 3.81 meter jump.
Park Hill’s Bryce Lisaka hands the baton to Max Filion, above left, at the same time that Platte County’s Garett Smith hands to Victor Sewankambo, above right, in the 100-100-200-400 medley relay in the Staley Relays on April 1.
Park Hill South sophomore T.J. McGhee was in second place with a 3.66 hop followed by his teammate, Luke Swan, in fourth place with a 3.2 meter jump. Matthew Nunez finished in a three-way tie for sixth place when the Panther junior ended with a 2.89 meter vault.
In the long jump, Trojan senior Sammy Hall leaped 6.45 meters to end in second place, followed by a pair of Pirates in third and fourth places. Victor Sewankambo jumped 6.36 meters and Cole Rhoden ended with a 6.24 meter hop.
Kendrick Bell helped the Trojans earn some more points in the long jump as the junior ended in sixth place, along with Jordan Smith finishing in 12th place. Park Hill South had a pair of long jumpers finish in the top-19 with Guillory earning eighth place and Dylan Love ending in 19th place.
Marqueas Bell hopped 12.24 meters in the triple jump to finish in third place for the Trojans, while sophomore Kaceson Tisdel jumped 11.42 meters to end in 13th place. Platte County had the fourth and fifth place jumpers when Andy McClure leaped 12.24 meters and Hall hopped 12.07 meters.
In the javelin, two of the top-3 finishers were Trojans led by Jordan Smith with a 52.59 meter heave and Jordan Rider flung the javelin 43.41 meters. Park Hill South’s Steven Ritchie earned sixth place and Taylor Zehr finished in 13th place, while Platte County’s Brody Fulk and Nick Stone ended in back-to-back spots in ninth and 10th places.
In the other throwing events, Platte County’s Gage Fulk finished in seventh place in the shot put and Park Hill’s Savion Paden ended in ninth place. Cameron Wolfe had a 43.6 meter sling in the discus to finish in third place for the Pirates, while Panther junior D.J. Jones ended in eighth place with a 38.51 meter heave.