Corbin Green came very close to securing an all-state medal for North Platte.
The senior took ninth place in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes in the MSHSAA State Track and Field Class 2 Championships last weekend at Jefferson City High School in Jefferson City, Mo.
Green competed in four events between Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19, but his closets calls came in the preliminaries on Friday. He ran 11.46 in the 100, coming six tenths of a second away from the last spot in the finals. In the 200, the heartbreak was even greater. He ran 23.18, coming in ninth, behind Belle’s Skyler Smith — a recent Park basketball signee — who ran 23.17.
Green ran on the 4x400 with Caleb Crumley, Van French and Ty French and that group finished 11th. Green joined Matt Carter, Will Morse and Chance Chesnut on the 4x100 team that was 12th. This was the first state appearance for Crumley, Van French and Morse.
Mound City News photo
North Platte's Van French competes in the 4x400-meter relay at the MSHSAA Class 2 State Track and Field Championships in Jefferson City, Mo.
The only other Panther at state on the boys side was Tyler Meadows, who took 16th in the pole vault after failing to clear a height in three attempts.
On the girls side, the best finish came in the 4x400 relay. McKenna Fulton, Bailee Romaker, Trinity Wrightfield and Maddie O’Neill took 10th place.
Three of those members competed in individual events.
Romaker was 11th in the 100-meter hurdles coming in a 17.05, while the final qualifying spot for finals finished in 16.49. In the 300 race, Fulton finished 16th after clipping a hurdle slowing her time down.
O’Neill, a freshman, was 13th in the 400.
Fulton, who will run at William Jewell next year, qualified for state in track and field and cross country all four years — a first at North Platte.
“While we may not have ended up on the medal stand, that takes nothing away from the great season that we had,” North Platte coach Brendan Cary said. “We showed great improvement and peaked at the right time, having tremendous district and sectional meets before catching some tough breaks at state.
“I think we are in a good place going into next year. We have a good group of returners who have seen the example of these seniors and are ready to follow in their footsteps.”
All told, North Platte will lose 11 seniors from this squad that competes in a KCI Conference that had three teams win team trophies — West Platte, Mid-Buchanan girls and the Lathrop boys.