After dominating throughout the regular season, the North Platte and West Platte track and field teams showed up when it mattered and advanced to sectionals with impressive performances at the Class 2 District 8 Meet at Plattsburg High School on May 7.
The West Platte boys nearly advanced as a team, finishing in third place and only 1.5 points behind second place Lexington. Lawson was the district champion with 152 points, Lexington had 89.5 points and West Platte ended with 88 points.
All four of the Blue Jays’ relay teams qualified, along with three individuals: Charlie Kinslow, Chad Fowles and Cameron Williams. West Platte’s 4x400 and 4x100-meter relay teams became district champions, while the 4x200 and 4x800-meter relay teams finished in third place.
Kinslow advanced in the 800 and 1,600-meter runs when the junior claimed first place in both races with times of 2:02.12 and 4:39.84, respectively. Kinslow was also the anchor in the 4x400 and 4x800-meter relay teams that crossed the finish line in 3:37.72 and 8:44.03.
Fowles qualified in the 100-meter dash with a second-place finish in 11.13 seconds, along with being the anchor in the other two West Platte relays. The third place 4x200-meter relay crossed the finish line in 1:34.71 and the district champion 4x100-meter relay completed the race in 44.39 seconds.
It only took Williams 43.93 seconds to earn a second-place finish – and to clinch a spot in sectionals – in the 300-meter hurdles. With only the top-4 finishers of each event being able to move on to the sectional meet, the Blue Jays had two athletes end just shy of qualifying with fifth place finishes: Eli Harris in the shot put and Tristan Newkirk in the pole vault.
The Lady Blue Jays will have three relay teams at sectionals, led by the district second-place 4x400-meter relay team. The third place 4x200-meter relay team of Katie Groom, Libby Vandel, Hailey Peters and Sam Baker finished in 1:49.32 and the 4x400-meter relay team – that subbed in Avery Holmes for Vandel – ended in 4:20.31.
Holmes and Baker were joined by Julia Pattison and Madison McMillan in the 4x800-meter relay as the Lady Blue Jays’ 10:37.46 earned fourth place. Baker was on all three relays and advanced in the 400-meter dash, ending in 1:00.30 to become the district champion.
Peters will have four events to compete at in sectionals after finishing as the district champion in the 100-meter hurdles and fourth place in the 300-meter hurdles. The Lady Blue Jay finished with times of 16.93 seconds and 49.70 seconds, respectively.
Laura Hill punched a ticket to sectionals in the pole vault when she cleared the 8-06.25-foot bar for a second-place finish. Groom and Pattison nearly advanced in the 100-meter dash and 1,600-meter run but the two Lady Blue Jays both ended in fifth place.
The Lady Panthers finished in second place at districts and are sending 12 athletes to sectionals, all of which will be competing in at least one relay. North Platte’s relays have been the catalyst to its success throughout the year, most recently when it had three district champion relay teams – the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400-meter relays – and one second place relay, the 4x800-meter relay.
Lonee French, Haley Sampson, Olivia Rogers and Bella Kitmitto were on the 4x100-meter relay team and Kalli Schuster, Lindsey Ramsey, Rogers and Sampson were on the 4x200-meter relay team. The 4x100-meter relay ended in 50.94 seconds and the 4x200-meter relay team crossed the finish line in 1:44.31.
North Platte’s Bella Kitmitto, Lindsay Ramsey, Schuster and Sampson ended the 4x400-meter relay in 4:14.22. The 4x800-meter relay team of Brianna DeBord, Jessa Cassity, Shelby Lingle and Gracie Ramsey advanced with a second-place finish with a time of 10:25.57.
West Platte senior Katie Groom, above left, and North Platte junior Olivia Rogers, above right, both qualified in seperate events in the Class 2 District 8 Meet at Plattsburg High School on May 7.
The common denominator for the district champion relay teams was Sampson as the North Platte senior was the only Lady Panther on all three first-place finishing teams. Sampson was also the district runner-up in the 400-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 1:00.82, followed by Lindsey Ramsey in third place with a time of 1:02.
Lindsey Ramsey has been another key piece to the sprinting relays and the freshman also advanced in the 200-meter dash, claiming third place in districts in 27.13 seconds. Kylee Sipes took home third place in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.93 seconds.
Rogers was the district champion in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, crossing the finish line in 12.38 seconds and 25.38 seconds, respectively. Rogers broke the North Platte 200-meter dash record and will be in four events at sectionals, including the 4x100 and 4x200-meter relays.
DeBord sped past all but two runners in the 1,600 and all but three runners in the 3,200-meter runs as the freshman is one step closer to making it to state in her first year in high school. She finished in third place in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:49.40 and fourth place in the 3,200-meter run at 12:31.91.
Gracie Ramsey ended in third place at the district meet in the 800-meter run when the senior completed the race in 2:28.67. Cassity was the first 3,200-meter runner to miss qualifying as she ended in fifth place with a time of 12:33.34.
The North Platte boys had three sectional qualifiers, led by Liam Servaes with a first-place finish in the shot put when he had a 42-10.50 foot heave. The Panthers had two of the top-3 finishers in the 3,200-meter run in Noah Heckman and Josh Schaffart.
The Panthers and the Blue Jays will compete in the sectional meet at West Platte High School on May 14. The top-4 finishers in each event will then qualify for state, which will take place at Jefferson City on May 20 and 21.