The Platte County girls’ swimming team had a pair of impressive outings last week with two first place finishes.
Platte County’s Olivia Aagesen, above, finished in 10th place in the 100-yard breaststroke on Jan. 19.
The Pirates finished with 558 points and ended in first place out of five teams - Lee’s Summit North, William Chrisman, Truman and Van Horn - at Independence High School on Jan. 19. Then in a tri-meet against St. Pius X and Smithville, Platte County outscored its opponent when it scored 711 points, while the Pirates’ opponents combined for 596 points.
At Independence High School, Brooklynn Hays was the top-finisher in two races: the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard freestyle. Hays ended the backstroke with a 1:08.95 time and then the Pirate finished the freestyle in 2:06.71, immediately followed by Madeline Judy in second place with a time of 2:23.96.
Cassidy Reinsch won the 200-yard individual medley in 3:12.69 and Drew Delay won the 50-yard freestyle in 26.67 seconds. Not too far behind Delay was Madeline Stone and Lauren Beatty in fifth and sixth places.
Delay also impressed in the 100-yard freestyle, ending in second place with a 59.60 second time, while Stone ended in fourth place in 1:03.97. Ireland Shank was the top-finisher in the 100-yard butterfly when she finished with a time of 1:08.03.
Maredith Ballou ended in first place in two competitions when she swam the 500-yard freestyle in 5:46.18 and finished the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:14.38. Cassidy Hostikka finished the breaststroke in fourth place and Olivia Aagesen finished in tenth place.
Platte County had the fastest two 400-yard freestyle relay teams led by Delay, Stone, Ballou and Hays in 4:06.56. The second-place team of Maria Molinari, Judy, Shank and Beatty finished with a time of 4:32.20.
The Pirates also had a pair of relay teams finish in first and second place in the 200-yard freestyle. Jayden Benninghoff, Alyson Stone, Judy and Beatty were in first place with a time of 2:01.41 and Shank, Aagesen, Hostikka and Molinari were in second place with a time of 2:07.71.
In the tri-meet against Smithville and St. Pius X, it was senior night for Platte County when it dominated the relays. The Pirates had two first place finishes in the three relays and had three of the top-five relay teams in the 200-yard medley.
Madeline Stone, Delay, Shank and Hays won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 2:00.82 and the relay team of Erian Stone, Jaycee Henry, Ballou and Molinari finished in third place with a time of 2:17.15. In fifth place with a 2:24.53 time was Samantha Teufel, Judy, Hostikka and Benninghoff.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the Pirate team of Shanks, Hays, Judy and Beatty ended in first place with a 1:52.78 time, while Reinsch, Henry, Molinari and Aagesen ended in third place with a 2:10.06 time.
The only relay that Platte County didn’t win was the 400-yard freestyle relay when Smithville was the top-finisher with a time of 4:12.52. The second and third place relay teams were claimed by the Pirates in 4:36.13 and 4:42.44.
Platte County had the top-3 individuals in the 50-yard freestyle with Delay in 26.28 seconds, Ballou in 26.40 seconds and Judy in 26.96 seconds. Delay won the 500-yard freestyle as well when she finished with a 5:50.93 time, followed by Beatty in second place with a time of 6:30.90.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Ballou was the top-finisher in 1:05.25 and Madeline Stone, Benninghoff and Hostikka ended in third, fourth and fifth places. Hays won the 100-yard freestyle and Madeline Stone won the 100-yard breaststroke.