Park Hill tied for third place and Park Hill South was right behind them in the standings during the KC Classic held on Friday, Jan. 10 at the Gladstone Community Center.
The Trojans had 262 points and tied with Springfield Kickapoo for third. Liberty won the meet with 359 points, four more than Liberty North. Park Hill South finished in fifth with 253 points and 90 points clear of Staley, which was sixth.
A total of 16 teams still took part in the meet, which was changed from a two-day to a one-day event due to inclement weather in the metro area.
The Trojans had four automatic state qualifying times and the only championship between the two teams.
Freshman Gabby Culp won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:58.53, one of the four state times. She was the runner-up in the 500-yard freestyle.
The top eight in that race featured Park Hill’s Arielle Janssens (fifth), Park Hill South’s Sydney Staebll (sixth) and Park Hill’s Emily Fickensher (seventh).
Park Hill South was the runner-up in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing in 1:53.90. That team was made up of Emma Clark, Natalie Maris, Staebell and Christine Hwang. Park Hill took sixth in that same race with Emma Owens, Aspyn Howard, Leila Kramer and Fickensher.
The Panthers’ team of Lola Reuscher, Amelia Lee, Maris and Hwang was third in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Both Park Hill and Park Hill South had automatic state times in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The Panthers were third in 3:49.28 with Lee, Staebell, Clark and Hwang comprising the quartet. Park Hill’s team Arielle Janssens, Fickensher, Emma Will and Culp was fourth in 3:50.21.
Park Hill’s Will and Janssens finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 200-yard individual medley, while Clark took sixth for Park Hill South.
Will finished third in the 100-yard backstroke. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Maris was third for South, while Howard took sixth for Park Hill.
Park Hill South’s Reuscher and Lee took fourth and eighth, respectively, in the 50-yard freestyle.
South’s Staebell took fifth in the 200-yard freestyle and Park Hill’s Fickensher was fifth in the 100-yard butterfly. Hwang was fourth in the 100-yard freestyle.
Park Hill’s Jaden Galang earned an automatic qualifying score of 383.50 in the 1-meter diving and teammate Katie Stephenson was fifth.
Other events
Park Hill 138, Platte County 45
The Trojans won a dual against the Pirates on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at the Park Hill Aquatic Center in Kansas City.
Park Hill won 11 of the 12 events. The lone exception came when Platte County junior Shannon Banark won the 100-yard freestyle in 56.07, getting a state consideration time in the process. Emma Will and Gabrielle Culp each won two individual events for the Trojans.
Culp won the 100-yard butterfly (1:09.28) and the 100-yard backstroke in 1:03.97, both state consideration times. Will won the 500-yard freestyle in 5:50.73 and 100-yard breaststroke, also getting state consideration time in both.
Emily Fickenscher, Leila Kramer and Emma Owen all won swimming events, while Jaden Galang took first in the 1-meter diving.
Fickenscher won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:10.10, missing an automatic state qualifying time by a tenth of a second.
Kramer won the 200-yard individual medley, while Owen took first in the 50-yard freestyle.
In the relays, the Trojans completed the sweep of all three and got state consideration times in all of them.
The 200-yard medley relay (2:03.92) featured Culp, Aspyn Hoaward, Owen and Kaelin Link. The 200-yard freestyle relay team had Elaina Ginest, Emily Wickerham, Fickenscher and Owen. Arielle Jansenns, Will, Howard and Kramer made up the 400-yard freestyle relay team that won.
Como Invitational
Park Hill South took 11th place and Platte County finished 30th as teams from across the state converged on the University of Missouri for a meet held Jan. 3-4 in Columbia.
St. Louis schools Marquette and Eureka were the top two, while Columbia Rock Bridge was third. Liberty North and Liberty were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Platte County set a pair of records in the meet, getting a new standard in both the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard medley relay.
The Pirates medley team of Shannon Banark, Drew DeLay, Lindsey Swindler and Sophia Zimmerman finished in 1:57.01 to take 17th place. The previous record of 1:57.08 was set in 2016.
Park Hill South took sixth in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:53.50. The team was juniors Christine Hwang and Emma Clark and sophomores Natalie Maris and Sydney Staebell.
Hwang, sophomore Lola Reuscher, junior Amelia Lee and senior Sophia Jaeger took sixth in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:42.49.
Platte County took 18th in the race with DeLay, Zimmerman, Swindler and Banark swimming 1:45.74.
The 200 freestyle record broken was set in 2015 at 1:46.70.
Banark added a 10th place showing in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing in 2:14.62. In that same race, Staebell was 13th and Maris took 20th.
Banark took 13th in the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.95) and Staebell took 14th (1:01.88).
Hwang placed 11th in the 50-yard freestyle and was 21st in 100-yard freestyle.
Clark took 12th place for the Panthers in the 100-yard backstroke.
Maris was 16th in the 100-yard breaststroke, followed by Platte County’s DeLay in 22nd and Clark was 24th.
South was 13th in the 400-yard freestyle with Reuscher, Staebell, Maris and Clark finishing in 3:49.0.