In the largest class in the state, the Park Hill boys’ track and field team walked away from the state meet with a seventh-place finish at Jefferson City High School on May 28.
The Trojans entered the Class 5 State Meet with five individual events and two relay teams and left with 25 points, seven points shy of ending in fifth place. The Lady Trojans also took three individuals and one relay team to bring home 10 points, led by Lauren Carpenter taking fourth place in the pole vault.
P.J. Caldwell made it to state for the second consecutive season in the 110-meter hurdles but had a more memorable time this season. When he competed on the biggest stage last year, he was disqualified, and used that as motivation to return to Jefferson City and do better in his senior campaign.
“It was 100% motivation, I needed another match,” Park Hill senior P.J. Caldwell said right after medaling in the 110-meter hurdles. “That DQ hurt me, and I felt that until now.”
The 110-meter hurdle finals’ race was highly competitive – with the top-7 finishers ending within 0.64 seconds of one another – and Caldwell took fourth place. The senior Trojan stood on the podium at the state meet after crossing the finish line in 14.80 seconds.
“I’m grateful; I never thought I’d be here this year with the times I was running last year but hard work and dedication got me here, and I did what I could. During the season when my time started to drop from a 15.5 to 14.8, I knew that I was going to be here and I just had to capitalize,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell was also on the Trojans’ 4x100-meter relay team that brought home a fourth-place medal in 42.68 seconds. Maximo Filion, James Noel and Manasse Ordeus were also on that relay team to end the high school careers of multiple Park Hill senior athletes on a high note.
Park Hill senior Cadence Bass became a state champion in the high jump when he cleared the 6-07-foot bar en route to leading the Trojans to a seventh-place finish as a team in the Class 5 State Meet at Jefferson City High School on May 28.
“It was a blessing, I had a great time with my coaches, with my teammates and I learned a lot. Most of all, I got better and improved every day and I’m just thankful for that,” Caldwell said when asked about reflecting on his Park Hill career.
After narrowly advancing out of the prelim 200-meter dash with an eighth-place finish in 26.37 seconds, Alyssa Ball was nearly an entire second faster in the finals. Ball crossed the finish line in 25.45 seconds to bring home an eighth-place medal.
Lane one was not kind to the Trojans as the Park Hill boys’ 4x400-meter relay team struggled in prelims, taking 13th place. Will Bushman, Sammy Hall, Marcus Thomas and August Jones finished the race in 3:29.48.
The Park Hill girls’ 4x100-meter relay team – put together by Jamari Ervin, Cali Richards, Mackenzie Moretina and Ball – made it out of the prelims with a sixth-place finish in 48.72 seconds. The Lady Trojans improved by one place in the finals when they crossed the finish line with a time of 48.45 seconds, which set the new school record.
Prior to this spring, Park Hill seniors Cadence Bass and Lauren Carpenter had never competed in high school track and field before but when the season came to an end, they stood on the podium at state. Bass became the state champion in the high jump and Carpenter took fourth place in the pole vault.
Bass was two inches off from his PR but was able to leap 0.75 inches higher than the next jumper as the Trojan earned a gold medal in the event with a 6–07-foot jump. Bass told the Platte County Citizen how he felt about being a state champion.
“It feels pretty good,” Bass said. “I worked hard to get here so it feels good. I took track off for a few years, so I thought I was rushing but came out and dominated.”
Kendrick Bell joined his Trojan teammate and the junior earned sixth place in the high jump with a 6-04.75-foot hop. Brooke Boehm finished in tenth place in both the long and high jumps – 0.14 meters shy of medaling in the long jump and 0.05 meters short in the high jump – with a 5.33-meter leap and clearing the 1.52-meter bar.
Carpenter was already the Park Hill program record holder in the pole vault – a feat she broke and earned earlier this season – but stepped up to the challenge at state. The senior capped her Park Hill career off with an 3.42-meter vault, which was 0.14 meters less than the next highest pole vaulter, to take fourth place.
Jordan Smith joined his Trojan field teammates at state in the javelin as the sophomore was the only Park Hill thrower to travel to Jefferson City High School. Smith earned seventh place with a 169-04 foot heave.