Platte County senior Brooklynn Hays brings back the most experience for the Lady Pirates.
PLATTE CITY – Losing its coach and a slew of seniors, the Platte County girls’ swimming team will continue to look at senior Brooklynn Hays this season.
Hays is the most accomplished swimmer returning, alongside junior Ireland Shank. Hays and Shank helped Platte County claim 16th place at state last season.
The duo teamed up with a 2023 senior Drew DeLay – who graduated as one of the most prolific swimmers the program has seen – and incoming junior Madeleine Stone in the state qualifying 200-yard medley relay last year.
The Lady Pirates finished four places and 2.12 seconds shy of getting out of preliminaries and look to use a veteran lineup as momentum.
Hays was the first freshman in the history of the program to be all-state – an accomplishment that occurred in the aftermath of the 2020-21 season – and has a long list of achievements since then, with the expectation to add to the list. First-year head coach Britton Johnson has taken over the program.
“We have a few returning members who were part of the team last year,” Johnson said. “Brooklyn Hays, Jayden Benninghoff and Ashley Cruce are a few; we have a large freshman class with some talent and some women looking to dive for us this year as well.”