West Platte senior Julia Pattison was the Class 2 District 4 Runner-Up to help the Lady Blue Jays’ take fourth place at Platte Ridge Park on Oct. 28.
PLATTE CITY – North Platte and West Platte showed out in the Class 2 District 4 Cross-Country Meet at Platte Ridge Park on Oct. 28.
North Platte qualified both its teams to state, while the West Platte girls advanced as well. The Blue Jays had two boy runners finish in the top-30 to keep their season alive.
This is the second straight season that North Platte will have two teams competing at state. In 2022, the Lady Panthers won a state title, and the Panthers earned fourth place – both of which were program bests.
The West Platte girls took 10th place last season and have qualified in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2017-18. In the district girls’ race, North Platte took third place with 65 points and West Platte earned fourth place with 74 points.
North Platte sophomore Chloe Heckman was the district champion and West Platte senior Julia Pattison was the runner-up. Heckman crossed the finish line in 20:10.92, which was 22.39 seconds ahead of Pattison.
Brianna DeBord earned sixth place with a time of 21:15.63 and Annabell DeBord wasn’t too far behind. The younger sister of the North Platte runners took 13th place in 22:21.46.
West Platte had two more runners who finished high enough to qualify as individuals: sophomores Payton Reber and Addison Bailey. Reber crossed the finish line in 21:59.26, earning 10th place, and Bailey took 21st place in 23:30.03.
Kaitlyn Reinke and Maggie Howard were the final two Lady Blue Jays to complete the 5K. Reinke ran a time of 25:11.54 in 39th place and Howard was four places and 46.03 seconds behind her.
To help lead North Platte to a third-place finish, Caitlyn Cummings ran under 25 minutes in 35th place and Lily Schaffart was in 41st place in 25:27.67. Allyson Smith ended in 26:40.42, good for 48th place, followed by Kylee Sipes in 30:06.89.
In the boys’ race, North Platte was four points behind district champion Lutheran (Kansas City) who had 76 points. Noah Heckman led the way for the Panthers as the senior crossed the finish line in 17:38.41, fifth overall.
Drake Keraus was close behind Heckman, taking seventh place with a time of 17:47.02. Mark Humes completed the 5K in 18:17.47, taking 11th place, and Hunter Palmer finished in 17th place in 18:41.57.
Devin Navarro was the next Panther finisher, taking 47th place in 20:04.82. Brenden Matt and Jackson Cassity wrapped up a state berth with sub-21-minute finishes.
West Platte junior Jonah McGivern had an impressive outing, earning a state trip with an eighth-place finish in 17:56.56. Noah Rees also qualified for state with a 16th place finish, crossing the finish line in 18:38.91.
Benjamin Pendergast missed out on state by 50.44 seconds as he took 46th place in 20:01.1. The next three West Platte runners – Joseph Blake, Drake Montez and Wyatt Larsen – ended in less than 21 minutes.
Thomas Deffet ended his junior campaign with a time of 21:05.29. State will be at Gans Creek in Columbia, MO, on Nov. 3.