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Park Hill's Guardado advances to two freestyle finals

ST. PETERS - Park Hill South put together an impressive performance at the MSHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving preliminaries at the Rec-Plex on Friday, Feb. 19.

The Panthers qualified for either the consolation finals or the championship finals in seven swimming events. All three South relays qualified for the championship finals.

Divers do not get much of the glory. After all, there is only one diving event at a swim meet compared to 11 swimming events.

Two North Kansas City Schools’ divers are looking for their slice of glory at the Missouri State High School Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters. Oak Park High junior Laurel Bartholomew and Winnetonka junior Sydnee Schram will be aiming to finish in the top eight after just missing out last year. Bartholomew finished 14th while Schram just missed making the final round of cuts.

There is a significant collection of talent in the area that is looking to make an impact in the event. It only takes a quick scan of the Suburban Big Seven and Big Six Conference diving results to know that something special is happening in the Northland.

Last year Park Hill South’s girls swimming and diving team diced through their competition on the way to a top-eight finish at the state meet.

With many of the key components back this year, the Panthers are looking for a repeat performance Friday, Feb. 19, and Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters.

“They’re definitely more comfortable, and they definitely have more of a hunger this year,” Park Hill South coach Tim Busenhart said. “I think that will make them better late in the day and that desire is needed. We are changing a few girls around this year, but it is going to be like the boys meet. You are definitely going to have four or five teams in those top spots then it is a whole crapshoot of points for sixth through 12th.”

When the Missouri State High School Swimming and Diving Championships get underway Friday, Feb. 19, in St. Peters, the Northland will be well represented.

A talented contingent of swimmers will be led by Park Hill’s Brynn Guardado. An expert in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events, Guardado is seeded No. 3 and No. 5 respectively in each event.

A reigning Suburban Big Six Conference champion in both events, Guardado was 10th in the 200 and 12th in the 500 as a freshman last year.

There will be a lot of happy girls when the Suburban Conference realignments take place next year.  No longer will other Big Six schools have to swim against Park Hill South High. The Panthers will be in the new Suburban Seven next year and will look to run their string of conference titles to 10.

But before 10, there was a ninth title that was won Saturday, Feb. 6, at the North Kansas City Schools’ Natatorium. The Panthers ran away with the meet, scoring 627 points and winning eight events — including all three relays. Park Hill was second with 485 points.

Panthers coach Tim Busenhart said that winning a conference title never loses its luster, even after nine in a row.

Only 31 points separated first and second place at the Suburban Small Six Conference swim meet Saturday, Feb. 6, at Henley Aquatic Center. Fortunately for Staley High it was on the winning side of the matter, edging out rival Kearney.

Bolstered by six event wins and depth to go along with it, the Falcons collected their first conference title in girls swimming. Staley piled up 555 points, just enough to edge out Kearney’s 524.

“We actually thought Kearney was the favorite coming in,” Staley coach Bob Barth said. “Looking at the site sheet, Kearney was the team to beat. Even after prelims Friday night they were still sitting ahead of us. We had some extraordinary swims on Saturday and some swims on Friday that set us up to have good swims.”

The girls swimming and diving season goes by pretty fast. With the state meet set for Feb. 19-20 there are only a few more meets for swimmers to hit state cuts.

Winnetonka High coach Dale Brown is hoping to see that happen at the Suburban Conference Big Six swim meet Friday, Feb. 5, and Saturday, Feb. 6, at the North Kansas City Schools Natatorium.

“We are going pretty well,” Brown said. “We are heading into the conference meet, and this is the time of the year the girls look to realize their goals and see where they are at. For us it is always the fastest meet of the year, and we are excited to be in it.”

Park Hill South beats Liberty by 11 points at rescheduled invitational

Like many other teams, the Park Hill South High girls swimming and diving team was short-handed this weekend.

After the Park Hill Invitational had to be rescheduled because of inclement weather, the event landed on the weekend of a big club meet. That left the Panthers without Rachel Norfleet and Mariah Bryant, two of their top swimmers.

One of the causalities of the bad weather last week was training sessions for all of the swim teams in the Northland.

The Oak Park and Staley High girls swimming and diving teams have had to work overtime to make up for those lost days.

“That was a really tough week,” said Oak Park and Staley coach Bob Barth. “It was really disruptive to training, but everybody had to deal with it. We did the best we could. It is nice to have a week without a meet so we can get our yardage back up and be ready for Saturday.”

With lofty goals heading into this season, the Park Hill South girls swim and dive team has to work harder to achieve those goals. The hard work was already on display with a third place finish at the Independence Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 19, at Bridger Middle School.

“The majority of them I thought swam pretty well,” said Park Hill South coach Tim Busenhart. “It is one of those meets that is tough to get people going because there is so much time between swims sometimes. It took six hours to swim all the events. I was pretty pleased with how well they kept themselves motivated.”

Busenhart said the biggest place of improvement was the relays.