Led by four all-district finishers and a balanced team effort, the Park Hill South boys cross country team punched its ticket back to the Class 5 MSHSAA Championships with a fourth-place finish on Nov. 1 at the District 4 meet held at Lee’s Summit North High School.
The Panthers totaled 123 points, edging Lee’s Summit by more than 20 to claim the final team qualifying spot. Liberty North dominated with 19 points and each of the top four finishers to win the district title, followed by Blue Springs South (65 points) and Lee’s Summit West (70 points).
Park Hill South placed four runners inside the top 30 to automatically advance to the state meet, led by Cole James (16th, 16 minutes, 3.12 seconds) and closely followed by Thomas Garrett (19th, 16:08.64), Simon Ketter (28th, 16:29.12) and David Meyer (29th, 16:32.04). Grant Windmeyer (31st, 16:40.28) narrowly missed the top-30 cutoff but provided key team points, while Eli Hurst (41st, 17:07.50) and Max Gogan (67th, 17:59.09) rounded out a Panthers lineup that advances to the state tournament for the first time since 2017.
Platte County narrowly missed a state berth with a sixth-place team finish (185 points) but will still be represented at the Class 5 state meet by standout senior Blake Herron, who placed fifth overall in 15:44.69. Herron ran among the lead pack much of the way, becoming the first non-Liberty North runner to cross the finish line.
The Pirates’ supporting pack included Donavin Ness (36th, 16:54.60), Landon McKinzie (42nd, 17:12.39), Tate Stone (48th, 17:17.39), and Nicholas Flowers (54th, 17:42.35), giving Platte County a top-half finish among a loaded 17-team field in the Pirates’ first district meet since moving up to Class 5.
Park Hill finished 11th with 300 points, led by junior Colton Hardy (26th, 16:22.64), who earned an individual berth to state as one of the final qualifiers. Hardy’s effort paced a young Trojan team that also saw Kennan Beatty (60th, 17:52.44), Noah Jackman (65th, 17:59.02), Alexander Minder (66th, 17:59.04), and Quincy Picart (92nd, 18:41.47) round out the scoring.
On the girls’ side, Park Hill South’s Madilynn Conklin and Platte County’s Tyler Stambersky both qualified individually for state after top-30 finishes. Conklin placed third overall in 18:49.75, earning one of the district’s highest finishes behind Blue Springs South’s Ashlyn Wahrenbrock and Lee’s Summit’s Kenley Halferty. Stambersky crossed in 24th at 20:10.51 to continue her standout sophomore campaign.
The Park Hill South girls just missed out on a state appearance as a team with a seventh-place finish (179 points), while Platte County took eighth (194) and Park Hill placed 13th (387). Blue Springs South (34) captured the girls’ district team title, with Lee’s Summit West (101), Blue Springs (125), and Liberty (130) also advancing.
Both Conklin and Stambersky will join their schools’ boys qualifiers at the Class 5 State Championships, set for Nov. 7 at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.