A week after seeing some of the best cross-country teams in Northwest Missouri at the Tim Nixon Invitational, West Platte and Platte County traveled to Raymore-Peculiar to run against some of the best teams from south of Kansas City on September 10.
West Platte junior Julia Pattison finished in sixth place among Class 1-3 runners at the Ray-Pec Invite on Sept. 10.
There was a separation in classes at the meet, splitting the race in half as Class 1 through 3 were ranked against each other and the same case with Class 4 through 6. West Platte had a tough race going up against the likes of Hermitage – the Class 1 favorite – and the defending Class 2 state champion Stockton.
Charlie Kinslow ran first in the Class 1-3 classification, taking a couple of seconds off his time from last year’s Raymore-Peculiar Invite and finishing in 17:03. Jonah McGivern and Tristan Newkirk had good days finishing in 9th and 13th places, while only giving up eight seconds apiece from last week’s time when the duo finished with times of 18:00.8 and 18:38, respectively.
Noah Rees ran slightly behind his expected pace in mile one but picked it up to complete the 5k in 20:16.3 and finished in 29th place, while Thomas Deffet ended in 20:51. Hutch Bartee ended in 46th place and Antonio Laguna rounded out the seven runners for the Blue Jays in 70th place.
For the Lady Blue Jays, junior Julia Pattison ran a solid race finishing in 6th in the Class 1-3 grouping, running essentially the same time as she did last week in 22:06.9. Freshman Payton Reber ran second for West Platte, setting a PR and shedding 1:15 off her season debut when she crossed the finish line in 24:50.6 and Addison Bailey ran her first 5k of her career and finished right behind Reber in 32nd place with a time of 24:51.5.
Brie Elmore ran the race with a time of 26:08.9 and Kaitlyn Reinke ended in 26.46.8. Blair McHenry fought through some shoulder pain and ran in 28:04.5 for the West Platte girls in only her second career 5k.
The Pirates were led by the junior duo of Andrew Johnson and Kade Meinke who both ran under 18:00. Johnson was the seventh runner to cross the finish line – ending in 17:00.4 – and Meinke finished in 19th place in 17:32.4.
Kage Audas and Tanner Jenks finished back-to-back in 36th and 37th places with times of 18:22.30 and 18:22.50, respectively. Freshman Donavin Ness finished in 19:03 and was immediately followed by senior Aspen Nelson in 19:12.10, then freshman Blake Herron capped off the day with a 56th place finish with a time of 19:19.8.
The Lady Pirates were led by three juniors, starting with Siseley Mitchell who claimed fifth place overall with a time of 20:16.5. Carmen Gentilia finished in 11th place in 21:04.4 and Marissa Orellana took 39th place, crossing the finish line in 23:10.3.
Platte County sophomore Lilliana Kytasaari claimed 43rd place in 23:38.4, followed by Alex Beeman and Madison Palmer – who both ran sub-25:00 races – in 55th and 61st places, respectively, while Annabel Beeman crossed the finish line in 25:09.4, ending in 68th place out of 78 runners. The Pirates and Blue Jays will both be in the Platte County Invitational at Platte Ridge Park on September 15.