Rebekah Geddes obliterated another school record Saturday, Oct. 3 in Jefferson City, Mo. One of six for Platte County to set a new personal record, the Platte County sophomore bested her previous mark by nearly 30 seconds, turning in the top Class 4 time and placing third overall in the Capital City Challenge. She finished in 18:46.20 becoming the first in program history to run sub-19 minutes.
Taylor Werner (17:40.47) and Mia Jermain (18:15.27) — both Ste. Genevieve seniors — were the only runners with better times in the 156-runner field.
With Geddes leading the way, Platte County placed 10th out 22 teams with a 243 team total, just one back of Holt. Erin Straubel — another Pirates sophomore — also ran a personal best (20:32.04) and earned a medal with a 29th-place showing.
Lauren Johnson, another sophomore, placed 69th (21:49.13) for Platte County with senior Sara Wyss (74th, 21:57.70) and sophomore Jessica Clark (76th, 22:00.77) not far behind — both in personal best times.
On the boys side, Platte County came in 15th out 27 teams with six personal records set in the process.
Jackson Letcher continued his breakout freshman season with a 26th-place showing and a medal. His time of 17:02.60 — a personal best — stands as the eighth-best in program history and bettered his previous season best by 20 seconds. Keegan Cordova was next for the Pirates in 82nd out of 201 runners in 18:12.96.
Jared Maksudian, a junior, and Jacob Laures, another freshman, came 112th and 118th with times 26 seconds faster than their previous best. Nick Bjustrom rounded out the runners factoring in the team score, just one spot and 1 second back of Laures.
KC Metro Championships
Park Hill South’s girls again finished behind St. Thomas Aquinas (Kan.) on Saturday, Oct. 3 but this time ended up third in the final team standings.
Raymore-Peculiar notched a second place showing on its home course in Raymore, Mo. with a team total of 79 — 43 in front of Park Hill South’s 122. Lexi Maddox again led Park Hill South, just missing the top five with her sixth-place finish (19:10).
Park Hill South again bunched its runners with Marti Heit in 13th, Keely Danielsen in 32nd and Emma Roth in 35th. However, Jasmine Crawford came in 60th and off her normal pace.
Jillian Roepe led Park Hill in 31st, about a second in front of Danielsen. The Trojans were 10th as a team out of 18.
On the boys side, Park Hill’s Hunter Lund just missed the top 10 but grabbed a medal in 11th at 16:40.00, but the Trojans were 13th as a team out of 20. Park Hill South came in fifth, just six points back of fourth-place Staley behind the finishes of sophomores Eli Guzman (13th, 16:40.70) and Ewan Frick (18th, 16:48.00).
Savannah Invitational
West Platte fielded a full girls team for the first time this season. Rachel Heili ran for the first time and placed 20th in 24:06, while Daire Steljes ran her first race ever (25:54) with teammate Brianna Sellick just .05 of a second behind with her second personal best in three days.
Horton Invitational
West Platte’s boys were sixth but just 17 points out of second Thursday, Oct. 1 in Horton, Kan.
Despite a touch of illness, senior Daniel Cicha (16th) and Andrew Cicha (26th) were a big part of the Bluejays’ showing with freshman Max Davies finishing in between the brothers in 21st. Connor Penrod and Justin Howard both ran PRs to round out the scores.
Irish Invitational
North Platte senior Rayanne Daniel took 17th on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at Krug Park in St. Joseph, Mo. She finished in 24:31.2, less than 2 seconds out of a top 15 spot. On the boys side, North Platte senior Dylan Stockman also took 17th (19:35.2).
The Panthers took sixth out of nine teams on the boys side.