The North Platte duo of Noah Heckman and Josh Schaffart are headed to the state meet along with the West Platte boys’ cross-country team, which won a district title for the 20th time in school history.
For the 20th time in 22 years, the West Platte boys’ cross-country team, above, won a district title when the Blue Jays finished with 160 points at Missouri Western State University on Oct. 30.
West Platte junior Charlie Kinslow was the top-runner in the Class 2 District 4 Race when the junior finished with a time of 17:15. The Panthers’ duo of Heckman and Schaffart finished back-to-back in third and fourth place.
Heckman was the first North Platte runner to cross the finish line as the sophomore finished in 18:16 and Schaffart ended with a time of 18:27. Both Panthers qualified for state last year and Schaffart will be making his third appearance in just as many years.
West Platte junior Tristan Newkirk was a top-10 finisher as he crossed the finish line in 18:37 and seventh overall. The next Blue Jay finishers were Ryan Pattison in 18:57 and Jonah McGivern in 19:21.
Isaac Helmich ended in 42nd place with a time of 20:41 to clinch the state berth for West Platte. West Platte ended with 73 total points and Thomas Deffet was the final Blue Jay to cross the finish line when the freshman ended with a time of 21:57.
The third North Platte runner to finish the 5K was Corbin Britting, who ran the race in 21:16 and 54th place. Senior Gabriel Goodlet ran his final cross-country race in 21:32.
Wyatt Stapleton finished in 21:58, Waylon McCracken ended with a time of 22:53 and Wesley Meadows crossed the finish line with a 24:13 time to lead North Platte to a 6th place overall finish with 160 points. The state race is in Columbia, MO, on Nov. 6, as the Class 2 runners will compete at 11:15 a.m.