The Kansas City Comets indoor soccer team added a pair of players with ties to the county to the roster on Friday, Nov. 15.
The Independence-based team signed Raymond Lee and Ramone Palmer to the roster.
Lee signed a one-year deal, while Palmer’s is three years, pending approval of a work visa.
Raymond Lee
Lee played two games for the Comets last season and most recently played for the Hartford Athletic of the United Soccer League. He is a Park Hill graduate and played collegiately at Saint Louis University, earning all-conference accolades. The Philadelphia Union selected him in the fourth round of the 2015 MLS Draft.
“Ray is another talented player with Kansas City roots,” Comets managing partner Brian Budzinski said in a press release. “He’s a strong-bodied defender with a very gifted left foot. We look for Ray to come in and be an integral part of our defense.”
While playing for Park Hill, Lee was the Class 3 player of the year in 2010 and helped guide the Trojans to the quarterfinals. He was a three-time all-state pick and earned NSCAA first-team All-American honors. Lee also played for Sporting Kansas City’s junior team while in high school.
The other addition to the Comets roster is Palmer, who played collegiately at Park. The Kingston, Jamaica native debuted for the Comets in the 2016-17 season and scored a career-high 14 goals for the team last season.
Palmer was the American Midwest Conference player of the year in 2010.
Welty’s 3-point success
Park Hill South product Ryan Welty continues to leave his legacy shooting 3-pointers for Northwest Missouri State.
Welty is the nation’s active career leader in 3-point field goal percentage at 50.9 percent (194 for 381) heading into Thursday’s home game against William Jewell. Welty is No. 3 in 3-point shooting accuracy this season among all divisions, trailing only Suffolk’s Alex Jacovides and Carroll’s Nick Penny, both D-III players.
Welty has 194 3-pointers at Northwest, fifth all-time and within 21 of tying current Northwest women’s basketball coach Austin Meyer for third all-time at 215. Justin Pitts is second at 271 and current Northwest men’s assistant coach Zach Schneider, who played with Welty, hit 370 between 2013-2017.
Nationally ranked
The wrestling season is still a few weeks away but a number of Platte County wrestlers were named to the national rankings on InterMat’s preseason poll.
Park Hill is ranked No. 40 in the country, while three wrestlers are ranked nationally.
The highest of the three is Ethen Miller, No. 12 in 126 pounds. Trey Crawford (132) and Ashton Sharp (220) are both ranked No. 18.
Park Hill opens the season on Dec. 6 hosting Broken Arrow, Okla.
Sampson, Bearcats make D-II playoffs
Northwest Missouri State closed the season with a 45-23 victory over Central Missouri to clinch a share of the MIAA championship for the 30th time in program history.
Now, the Bearcats will play Harding in the opening round of the playoffs on Saturday in Maryville.
This will be the third playoff berth for kicker Parker Sampson, a Park Hill graduate. In each of the past two trips to the postseason he has delivered some big plays. He made a field goal against Ashland in the 2017 playoffs and last fall successfully converted an onside kick.
During the penultimate week of the season, Sampson was named the MIAA special teams player of the week for the second time this season. Sampson hit a 38-yard field goal to help lift the Bearcats to a 36-33 win against Fort Hays State in double overtime. Sampson booted two field goals of 41 and 38 yards. He also handled punting duties, averaging 39.7 on seven attempts.
Earlier this season, Sampson set a new career best by hitting a 53-yard field goal against Emporia State.
Notes
A number of West Platte athletes were named to the academic all-state track and field team. That list was: Cole Vandel, Drake Stelljes, Jacob Brown, Julian Trelow, Matik Heskin, Preston Bishop, Rylan Richardson and Thomas Tharp on the boys team and Bella Clark, Faith Stevens, Gretchen Raney, Gracie Raney, Hannah McGivern, Josie Raney, Katie Groom, Katy Tharp, Lea Moose, Lexie Smither, Sophia Rush and Tori Norman on the girls team. … Park Hill South product Keely Danielsen placed 102nd at the NCAA Division II Central Regional meet in Joplin on Nov. 9. Earlier this season she was 45th at the Chile Pepper Festival and was sixth at the Bearcat Open earlier this month. In that same race, North Platte products Zach Lee (38th) and Tyler Meadows (39th) competed for Missouri Western.