Park Hill won one event and collected 11 medals in the Battle of the Northland, finishing second out of 11 teams. Park Hill South placed fourth in the season-opening meet held Saturday, Aug. 20 at Park Hill District Aquatic Center in Kansas City, Mo.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Park Hill’s team of Sean Cogley, Jordan Timmerman, Daniel Spielhagen and Danny Jones finished in 1 minute, 32.79 seconds to edge Liberty North’s top quartet by just 0.15 of a second in one of the day’s most competitive races. The Trojans medaled in two of three relays with the 400 freestyle team (Jones, Cogley, Spielhagen and Thor Mardis) second to Kearney to close out the meet.
The members of those relays collected the majority of Park Hill’s medals.
Spielhagen came in third in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 200 freestyle, while Jones grabbed a pair of fourth-place finishes (200 individual medley and 100 butterfly). Cogley came in fourth in the 100 freestyle, one spot ahead of Timmerman. The Trojans also received key points in the 1-meter diving competition from Mark Foster, who finished third.
Park Hill’s final individual medals came from Mardis — sixth in the 100 butterfly and sixth in the 100 backstroke.
Spielhagen (200 freestyle and 100 backstroke) and Jones (100 butterfly) both made individual cuts for the Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships. The Trojans two medal-winning relays also qualified for state in their first swim of the season.
Park Hill South also finished top three in two relays with third-place showings from the 200 medley team (Jackson Garrett, Daniel Miller, Eli Cart and Isaac Lee) and 200 freestyle team (Garrett, Miller, Lee and Kyle DiBernardo). Garrett placed second in the 100 backstroke and third in the 100 freestyle, while Morris also grabbed two medals (fourth, 500 freestyle and sixth, 100 freestyle).
Miller placed second in the 100 breaststroke at 1:02.44 — about 2½ seconds ahead of Platte County’s Caden DeLay, who finished fourth for the Pirates’ lone medal. Delay’s showing put him about a half second away from qualifying for state in the event for the second straight year.
Platte County’s Jerry Orozco came in less than half a second behind Park Hill’s Mardis in the 100 butterfly to just miss a medal. The Pirates scored 123 points and finished seventh in the final team standings.
Park Hill totaled 324 points, 18 back of the winners, while Park Hill South had 308, just 11 back of third-place Liberty North. Garrett (100 backstroke) and Miller (50 freestyle and 100 breaststroke) made individual cuts for state and so did the 200 medley relay team.