Park Hill South again looked dominant in a three-team meet Tuesday, Dec. 19 at Platte County Community Center North. Behind wins in seven of 12 events, the Panthers easily outdistanced both host Platte County and Kearney.
Coming off of an 11th straight Flyer Invitational title, Park Hill South took two of three relays, while freshman Abbie Day took a pair of individual events (200-meter freestyle and 500-meter freestyle). Panthers standouts Georgia Clark (100 freestyle) and Paige Riekhof (100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke) were the Panthers’ other individual winners.
Riekhof posted an automatic cut for the Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships in the butterfly (1:00.90), while the Park Hill South 200 medley team of Georgia Clark, Emma Clark, Nadya McCullough and Sophie Jaeger finished in 1:57.40 — just off the Panthers’ season best.
Platte County won two events and remained without any automatic state qualifiers.
Emily Kruse was the top finisher out of two entrants in 1-meter diving, while Pirates freshman Shannon Banark won the 100 backstroke in 1:03.00 — still just off of a state cut. She also finished second to Riekhof in the 100 butterfly in 1:03.53, which was another consideration state cut.
The state will use the top non-automatic times to assure a full field of 32 participants in each event.
Platte County’s 200 medley team of Banark, Bailey Newell, Lindsey Swindler and Maddie Klippenstein came in third at a season-best 2:03.56. That puts the Pirates about 5 seconds off an automatic qualifying time, but they currently rank No. 18 in Class 1.