Nathan Straubel kicked off his senior season on a winning note, taking home medalist honors at the Liberty Invitational on Sept. 6 at Liberty, Mo. Fellow all-stater sophomore Hunter Long finished 14th, and Nolan Orf took home a medal after coming in 24th. The top two runners paced the Pirates to a fifth-place showing in the final standings. Orf’s 12-minute, 28-second time on the 2¼ mile course was about a minute behind Straubel’s 11:21 winning pace. On the girls side, the Pirates finished seventh out of 10 teams. Rebekah Geddes returned to the team and finished fourth. The senior initially indicated she would graduate early and forego her senior season. Her 13:56 performance paced Platte County, who came home with a pair of medals. Erin Straubel ended up 14th in 14:32. St. Thomas Aquinas Invitational Park Hill South’s returning state qualifiers Jasmine Crawford and Lexi Maddox paced the Panthers to a third-place finish Sept. 6 at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kan. Crawford (ninth) and Maddox (10th) to earn medals from the first meet of the season. Emma Roth, a freshman, also made an immediate impact, placing 18th to account for Park Hill South’s third medal. On the boys side, senior Tucker Melles shaved off nearly a minute from his time at the Invitational a year ago, and he came in second at 15:48 after going 16:47 in the same meet a year ago. Darrien Case picked up a medal with his seventh-place finish in 16:03. St. Mary’s Meet West Platte junior standout Daniel Cicha finished 13th (19:41) on the Cardinal Course on the campus of William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. Senior teammate Braxton Hill ran in 27th and just missed a medal at 20:14. Taylor Binkley, running her first race ever race, and Lauren Moose both ran for the West Platte girls and finished in the middle of the pack with times around 27 minutes. Binkley is also a member of the softball team, while Moose plays volleyball as her main sport. Cass-Midway Invitational Cicha (11:53) and Hill (11:58) finished back-to back in sixth and seventh places, respectively, to pace the Bluejays at the Cass-Midway Invitational in Cleveland , Mo. on Sept. 6. Hill was a first-year senior competing in his opening race. Maryville Invitational North Platte’s girls finished with their best team result in the program’s three-year history Sept.4 in Maryville, Mo. Bailee Romaker paced the Panthers, who finished second overall. McKenna Fulton and Rayanne Daniel also picked up medals in the six-team event. On the boys side, Blake Romaker (fourth, 19:55) and Dylan Stockman (19th, 20:51) earned medals, as well. North Platte elected not to enter the boys team competition with coach Brendan Cary giving his younger runners experience on the shorter junior varsity track before transitioning to the varsity squad. “Everyone was really excited at what we accomplished,” Cary said. “But we know that it’s a long season, and we’re just at the start of this journey.”

The Platte County Citizen