The Park Hill South boys’ swim and dive team vaulted all the way to second place at the Missouri Class 2 State Championships – with the help of two individual championships by junior swimmer Jacob Duckworth – at the St. Peters Rec-Plex Center on Nov. 11.
Duckworth won the 50-yard freestyle sprint race with a time of 20.52, which was 0.30 seconds faster than his qualifying time the previous day and 0.76 seconds faster than the second-place swimmer from Blue Springs South. The junior reset his own school record – that he set and broke several times this season after it was previously held by Riccardo Maestri in 2010 who went on to compete in the 2012 Olympics – and is .05 seconds away from the Class 2 MSHSAA record.
The team championship was won by Rockhurst who came away with 422 points compared to Park Hill South’s 268, which was good for runner-up. The Panthers’ real battle was with St. Louis’ Kirkwood High School.
The Panthers set multiple program records on the trip to another state banner. After the 50-yard freestyle race, Park Hill South led Kirkwood by 32 points.
The Pioneers crept closer after finishing runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly and stayed with the Panthers through the next three events. Kirkwood overtook second place from Park Hill South in the eighth event – the 500-yard freestyle – by not only winning the event, but also having two other swimmers on the medal stand in sixth and eighth places.
Kirkwood maintained a seven-point lead over Park Hill South with three events remaining after finishing in third place, right behind the Panthers in the 200-yard freestyle. Park Hill South’s team of Duckworth, junior Drew Franklin, senior Henry Snider and junior Roman Lewis finished runner-up with a time of 1:25.70, almost a full second faster than Kirkwood.
The Panthers trailed by nine points heading into the 100-yard breaststroke, the last individual race of the event. Kirkwood had only one swimmer in the consolation final and the Panthers had three swimmers going for medals, including Duckworth.
Duckworth shaved nearly a second off his qualifying time and set a new school record – that was previously held by Zander Livingston from 2020 – with a championship performance of 56.14 seconds, a whopping 1.44 seconds faster than the runner-up. Snider finished in third place in 58.76 seconds and junior Jack Francis-Cummings took eighth place with a time of 59.71 seconds.
After the event, Park Hill South led Kirkwood by 32 points and only needed to finish the race to capture second place. Park Hill South Head Coach Tim Busenhart told the Platte County Citizen that he knew it would be a tough task overtaking Rockhurst for a championship.
“What we always focus on is going for the fastest times at the end of the year,” Busenhart said. “Every single one of those kids went fast yesterday and even faster today. What I’m really most proud of is having those kids who really just focused on what they could do on their own and not worry about what other teams were doing.”
Duckworth didn’t swim his first two years of high school after having a successful early career in middle school. Duckworth spent the last two years playing football, but there were rumors he might make the jump back to swimming.
The junior worked hard and was nothing but a positive influence on his teammates this fall. Busenhart said it was a struggle at times for Duckworth to get back into swimming shape and learn what it takes to win races and get faster.
Park Hill South junior Jacob Duckworth celebrates after earning one of two individual state championships after taking two years off from swimming at the Missouri Class 2 State Championships at the St. Peters Rec-Plex Center on Nov. 11.
“He really came home here at the end and showed that building up endurance is an important part of swimming and just being positive. He was such a positive kid for everybody and so much fun for our team and kind of stepped into a leadership role,” Busenhart said.
Two of Park Hill South’s swimmers, senior Derek Long and junior Alex Briggs, brought experience from last fall’s state championship, where both made trips to the medal stand in individual events into this year’s championships and both came up big. Long reached the medal stand in two events, including the 500-yard freestyle race where he finished third with a time of 4:32.23.
Long also finished sixth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:43.03. The senior Panther’s swimming career is far from over as he has signed to swim at the University of Wyoming.
Briggs also made two trips to the medal stand with a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (IM) with a time of 1:57.55 and a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 50.88 seconds, which was 0.01 seconds shy of tying the Park Hill South record. Snider placed fifth in the IM with a time of 1:55.66.
Lewis also reached the medal stand twice in individual events for Park Hill South. The junior placed eighth in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:44.26 and he placed fifth in the 100-yard freestyle in 46.80 seconds.
The Panthers’ two other relay teams also made it to the medal stand. The 200-yard IM relay team of Snider, junior Jack Francis-Cummings, Briggs and Duckworth finished third with a time of 1:36.21 to set a new program record.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Gentry Comstock, Briggs, Long and Lewis finished fifth with a time of 3:14.30. There was only one event, the 100-yard backstroke, that South didn’t have at least one swimmer competing for a medal.
“Having that ability to have someone in every single final except for one is what it takes to get that high of a place,” Busenhart said.
Also, scoring points for Park Hill South in the consolation round, were Comstock with a 14th-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 56.15 seconds and Francis-Cummings who finished ninth in the 200-yard IM with a time of 1:57.38. Other Panthers who competed at the state championships included junior Isaac Dierker who finished 24th in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:52.65 and senior Lucas Nichols who finished 32nd with a time of 1:57.64.
Besides Duckworth, the Panthers had three other junior swimmers compete in the 50-yard freestyle. Matthew Henderson finished 21st in 22.58 seconds, Drew Franklin finished 27th in 22.96 seconds and Grady Burns finished 29th in 22.99 seconds.
Burns also placed 21st in the 100-yard butterfly in 55.50 seconds, Comstock placed 23rd in 49.49 seconds and Henderson placed 25th in 49.99 seconds. In the 500-yard freestyle, Dierker placed 27th with a time of 5:05.64, and sophomore Nick Maris placed 27th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:04.08.
The Panthers also had four young divers, all freshmen, compete at the event but none made it to the finals’ round. The group included Cooper McQueen, Henry Dorothy, Brendan Anderson, and Atreyu McCauley.