When the Class 5 Sectional 4 Meet came to a close at Lee’s Summit North High School on May 21, 12 Park Hill track and field events qualified for state.
The Park Hill boys had seven of its 16 events qualify for state including two sectional champions: P.J. Caldwell and Cadence Bass. Caldwell finished ahead of the pack in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.84 seconds, while Landen Julson’s season came to an end with a sixth-place finish in 15.27 seconds in the event; Will Bushman advanced in the 300-meter hurdles with a fourth-place finish in 41.81 seconds.
Park Hill had six of the top-6 high jumpers, led by gold medalist Bass who hopped 6-05.50 feet. Kendrick Bell cleared the 6-01.50-foot bar to take third place, while Desire Tonye Nyemeck’s jumping season came to an end with an eighth-place finish on a 5-11.75-foot jump.
Bell was one place shy of advancing in both the long jump and triple jump. The junior leaped 21-07.75 feet in the long jump and 42.05.75 feet in the triple jump.
Park Hill senior Lauren Carpenter, above, was the Class 5 Sectional 4 Runner-Up in the pole vault when she cleared the 10-06-foot bar at Lee’s Summit North High School in the Class 5 Sectional 4 Track Meet.
Jordan Smith qualified for one last Park Hill field event when he claimed second place in the javelin with a heave of 182-03.50 feet. Savion Paden’s high school track career came to an end in the shot put when he ended in fifth place.
The Trojans advanced two of their three relays – the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays – with fourth-place finishes. 1:29.96 wasn’t a fast enough time to move on in the 4x200-meter relay team as Park Hill took sixth place in the event.
Brooke Boehm impressed in the field events, advancing in both the long and high jumps, which included a gold medal in the long jump when the Lady Trojan had a PR leap of 17-02.25 feet. Boehm tied for third place in the high jump with Liberty North’s Taylor Bailey with a 5-01.75-foot hop, but technically takes fourth place on paper since Park Hill coach Jason Agee lost a game of rock, paper, scissors to the Eagles’ coach.
Lauren Carpenter qualified for state in another field event, the pole vault. The senior cleared the 10-06-foot bar to finish as the runner-up.
Alyssa Ball collected a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 25.15 seconds. The Lady Trojans’ 4x100-meter relay team qualified for state with a third-place finish at sectionals in 50.14 seconds.
Only the top-4 in each event at sectionals advance to state and Park Hill had two events finish just shy in fifth place. Mackenzie Moretina in the 100-meter hurdles and the 4x200-meter relay both finished in fifth place.