Jaguars edge Park Hill, top Grain Valley

By The Examiner staff

Blue Springs South won nine of 12 events to eke out a win over Suburban Big Eight foe Park Hill Tuesday.

The Jaguars edged the Trojans 156-155 while also topping Grain Valley 199-111 at the Blue Springs South Aquatic Center.

Amy Pollard, Whitney Pollard, Lexi Buckner and Maelyn MacLean combined to win the 400-yard freestyle – the final event – in 4 minutes, 3.61 seconds to give the Jaguars the winning margin.

“Another nice meet for us as we competed against a tough conference opponent. It seems like Park Hill and us always have close meets and this was no different,” Jaguars coach Errich Oberlander said. “Like I told the girls after the meet was over, I really enjoy watching them race and we had some really good races tonight. It was back and forth with Park Hill all evening. It was a big boost that we could win nine of the 12 events against them. It was a great team effort.”

Kara Good had a hand in four of Blue Springs South’s victories, winning back-to-back individual races – the 100 butterfly (1:08.09) and 100 freestyle (1:01.08). She teamed with Amy Pollard, Micaela Richards and Kennedy Hecker to win the meet-opening 200 medley relay (2:01.33), and led off the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:48.96) with Buckner, MacLean and Hecker.

MacLean won the 200 freestyle (2:12.65), Hecker prevailed in the 50 freestyle (26.04) and Richards took first in the 100 backstroke (1:11.00).

Grain Valley’s Hayden Meyer (248.95) topped Blue Springs South’s Giuliana Biscari (228.65) in diving.

Riley Downey took third in the 100 breaststroke for Grain Valley’s top swimming finish.