Platte County doubled its list of qualifiers for the Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships in one swoop at the Kansas City Classic held Friday, Jan. 16 and Saturday, Jan. 17 at Henley Aquatic Center in Independence, Mo. The Pirates added two more swimmers to the state roll with the 200-yard medley relay meeting the qualifying standard. Lauren Earnest, Hannah Havemeier, Hailee Baer and Rachel Valentine finished in 1 minute, 58.72 seconds — also a school record — during Friday’s preliminaries.
Platte County’s relay posted a 2:00.18 in the finals to finish eighth.
Havemeier also added a second individual event to her schedule at state with a 1:02.94 clocking in the 100 butterfly preliminaries that also set a school record. That time qualified her for the A final, and she finished eighth in 1:05.21.
Earnest posted a seventh-place finish in the 100 freestyle (56.81) and set a school record of 56.57 in the preliminaries.
Platte County set a fourth and final school record in the 200 freestyle relay with Havemeier, Baer, Valentine and Earnest clocking a 1:48.80 in preliminaries. They finished eighth in finals at 1:51.36.
Platte County wound up 11th as a team in the 21-team field, scoring 86 points to finish one back of Lee’s Summit West for the final spot in the top 10.
Lincoln Southwest (Neb.) took the title with 480 points, while Park Hill South came in second with 343.
Park Hill South grabbed silver medals in all three relays while Lee’s Summit West swept the gold medals. Park Hill South improved its state marks in the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays.
Panthers junior Maggie Hickey added a second event to her state program with a fifth-place showing in the 100 freestyle (55.64), and Helen Yeater qualified for state in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.08).
Standout Tori Beeler improved her state times with a silver in the 100 backstroke (58.51) and a bronze in the 50 freestyle (25.08).
Allison Riekhof and Paige Riekhof also collected medals for Park Hill South with Paige earning bronzes in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly and Anna finishing second in the 100 breaststroke and a sixth-place medal in the 200 freestyle. Allison Garrett claimed a silver in the 100 freestyle (54.20), and Kirsten Aken — third in the 100 breststroke — rounded out the Park Hill South swimmers who grabbed podium finishes.
Park Hill finished sixth in the team standings with 117 points. The Trojans’ 200 freestyle relay team (Rebecca Shaw, Meg Feeley, Nani Welsh and Madison Heydinger) were third (1:43.06).
Welsh grabbed an individual bronze in the 100 freestyle (55.08) to go with a fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:01.21). Heydinger finished right behind the freshman in the 200 free (2:02.98).