After dominating against Class 2 schools thus far, the North Platte girls’ track and field team took on bigger and better competition – and excelled – at the Liberty North Invitational on April 22.
North Platte was the smallest school at the meet, competing with five Class 5 schools, three Class 4 schools and one Class 3 school. Despite the mismatch, the Panthers won two relays and finished in second place in the 4x100-meter relay.
The North Platte girls’ 4x200-meter relay team won the race against Class 4 and Class 5 Schools on April 22.
North Platte finished the 4x200-meter relay in 1:47.26 and the 4x400-meter relay in 4:11.14 to bring home two gold medals. The Panthers’ 4x100-meter relay finished in 51.43 seconds – only 1.48 seconds behind Lee’s Summit – and earned third place in the distance medley relay with a time of 14:30.56.
“Being able to win here was definitely pretty cool,” North Platte lead leg of the 4x200-meter relay Haley Sampson said. “It’s something we haven’t seen before at our usual meets, so it’s nice to go against people who are up to our speed to get us ready for state and stuff.”
North Platte also had impressive individual performances, although the wind conditions were tough to compete in. Sampson finished in first place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:00.40 and second place in the long jump with a leap of 16-01.25 feet.
“It took a lot of practice and no matter what the conditions are, we’re still practicing outside to prepare ourselves for meets like today. We also put in a lot of effort to get to where we are,” Sampson said.
Right behind Sampson in the 400-meter dash was freshman Lindsey Ramsey, who finished with a time of 1:01.56. North Platte collected another silver medal in the 100-meter dash when Olivia Rogers crossed the finish line in 13.17 seconds.
“We trained hard to go up against 5A schools, and since we’re a 2A school, it feels pretty good,” Lindsey Ramsey said. “I train really hard to be where I’m at, and I’m thankful for my coaches and my teammates for pushing me.”
Gracie Ramsey competed in the 800-meter run and finished with a time of 2:39.47. Kalli Shuster finished in seventh place in the 200-meter dash when the junior completed the race in 28.46 seconds, followed by Bella Kitmitto in 29.29 seconds.
Brianna DeBord continued her impressive freshman campaign when she claimed sixth place in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 13:06.7. North Platte also had two boys compete in throwing events: Liam Servaes and Jesse Williams.
Servaes clinched ninth place in the shot put and 13th place in the discus, while Williams finished in 17th place in the shot put. North Platte will look to continue the success at the KCI Conference Meet on April 30.