Cody Thorn
Citizen Editor
PECULIAR — Quentin Worley continues to put himself in a conversation of some of the best runners in Kansas City.
The Park Hill South senior took fourth place at the Kansas City Classic Cross Country meet held on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Raymore-Peculiar High School.
He was one of three Panthers to earn medals at the event on a cold, rainy day in south Kansas City.
Worley’s time of 16:21.60 came in behind Rockhurst’s Wes Porter (15:56.60), Blue Springs’ Brock Wooderson (16:13.60) and Staley’s Jack Warner (16:15.70).
Park Hill South senior Ethan Mick took 20th place and sophomore Tyler Clippard got one of the final medals, taking 55th. The top 60 earned medals in the competition that mixed foes from both sides of the state line.
“Overall, our team performed very well,” Park Hill South coach A.J. Roth said. “Due to the rain though out the week the course was muddy in some spots, but the guys did a nice job of over coming that and racing well.”
Park Hill’s lone medalist was Isaiah Phillips as the senior took 15th place, while Platte County’s Matthew Sullivan placed 23rd.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Park Hill South’s Quentin Worley runs at the Kansas City Classic on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Ray-Pec High School.
There were 241 runners in the field.
Kansas schools took the top two spots in the team standings with St. Thomas Aquinas winning by eight points over Olathe South. Park Hill South was 9th, while Platte County took 13th and Park Hill placed 18th in the 28-team field.
Platte County had a trio of medalists on the girls’ side led by Maddie Klippenstein’s 33rd-place finish. The junior ran 21:01.40. Teammates Ryanne Rhude and Taylor Giger were 53rd and 55th, respectively, two seconds apart.
There were 199 runners in the girls’ varsity race, won by Tori Wingrove of Blue Valley (Kan.). Four of the top five runners in the standings hailed from Kansas.
Olathe West (Kan.) won the team title, followed by Blue Valley West.
Park Hill South took 13th in the team standings despite having only one medalist in Olivia Roth, who took 41st place. Platte County was 15th, nine points behind Park Hill South.
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Park Hill took third place and had three medalists at the Grain Valley meet on Saturday, Oct. 5.
Avery Blakley paced the Trojans with a fourth-place showing with a time of 21:45.09. Abigail Fette took 15th and Lelise MeKinnon was 17th, with 28 seconds separating the two runners.
Blue Springs’ I’yana Foster won the race in 20:43.35, a span of four runners in the top six for the Wildcats.
The Trojans finished with 79 points, coming in behind Blue Springs (26) and Grain Valley (39) in the large division race.
Up Next
All five area teams will be running on Saturday, Oct. 12.
Platte County will compete in the Suburban Conference Blue Division finals at the Jesse James Fairground in Kearney at 9 a.m. That race will also double as the Kearney Invitational, which will feature North Platte and West Platte competing. The two smaller schools were set to run on Saturday, Oct. 5 in St. Joseph at the Bishop LeBlond Invitational, but it was called off due to bad weather.
Park Hill South will run at the Suburban Conference Red Division meet at the Wildflower Cross Country Course next to Liberty North High School. That meet starts at 9 a.m. The meet features a total of five state ranked teams, according to MoMileSplit, between the boys and girls divisions. The Liberty boys are ranked No. 2 in Class 4.
Park Hill will venture to Lee’s Summit North to take part in the Suburban Conference Gold Division championships. The Lee’s Summit West girls are the top ranked team in Class 4.