In the season opening North Platte Invitational, the Plattes dominated the track and field meet and brought home multiple plaques from North Platte High School on March 29.
The North Platte and West Platte girls’ track and field teams finished in the top-2, while the North Platte and West Platte boys’ track and field teams finished in the top-3. The Lady Panthers used their home track to their advantage en route to a first-place finish with 138.5 points and the Lady Blue Jays were in second place with 101 points.
North Platte wasted no time in the spring season to come away with medals as the Lady Panthers came away with multiple top-5 finishes. Gracie Ramsey and Shelby Lingle finished in second and third place in the 800-meter run with times of 2:43.36 and 2:45.03, respectively.
Brianna DeBord won the 1,600 meter and 3,200 meter runs when the freshman crossed the finish line in 5:57.75 and 13:07. Jessa Cassity wasn’t far behind in both races as she finished in fifth place in the mile and third place in the 2-mile.
The Lady Panthers had a pair of top-8 finishers in the 200-meter dash when Kalli Schuster finished in 27.46 seconds and Bella Kitmitto ended in eighth place in 29 seconds flat. Kylee Sipes was the second athlete to cross the finish line in the 100-meter hurdles, doing so in 18.07 seconds, and freshman Lindsey Ramsey ended in third place in the 100-meter dash.
North Platte senior Haley Sampson won the 400-meter dash in 1:01.73, followed by teammate Olivia Rogers in third place with a time of 1:03.47. West Platte freshman Sam Baker was in fourth place with a 1:04.72 time.
North Platte dominated in the relays as it was the first-place team in three of the four relays and finished in third place in the 4X800 meter relay. West Platte won the 4X800 meter relay, ended in fourth place in the 4X100 meter relay and earned second place in the 4X200 and 4X400 meter relays.
West Platte sophomore Julia Pattison was the second runner to cross the finish line in the 3,200-meter run when she finished in 13:11. Hailey Peters earned fourth place in the 100-meter hurdles and second place in the 300-meter hurdles, followed by Kaitlyn Reinke in seventh and eighth places, respectively.
In the high jump, Ahlanna Rutherford eared a silver medal and Klaira Groom ended in fifth place. Laura Hill finished in third place and Cosette Clark finished in fifth place in the pole vault.
North Platte had two of the top-6 long jumpers, led by Sampson with a 4.91 meter leap and Makenna Cartwright with a 4.28 meter leap. Rutherford earned some points for the Lady Blue Jays as her 4.43 meter jump gave her a fifth-place finish.
In the 4X100 meter relay, West Platte’s Libby Vandel hands the baton to Ahlanna Rutherford, above left, and North Platte’s Lonee French hands to Olivia Rogers, above right, when the Lady Panthers finished in first place and the Lady Blue Jays finished in fourth place in the race at the North Platte Inviational on March 30.
Baker won the triple jump for West Platte and Cartwright ended in seventh place for North Platte. North Platte’s Gracelynn Hoffman finished in sixth place in the discus with a 24.13 meter heave, while Carly Hinton ended in fourth place in the javelin with a 30.21 meter throw.
In the boys’ competition, West Platte ended in first place out of 14 teams with 155 points. North Platte finished in third place with 80 points, with East Buchanan being in between the two Plattes with 125 points.
West Platte’s Chad Fowles finished in third place in the 100-meter dash in 11.22 seconds and McLain Zendejas was the seventh runner to cross the finish line in 11.7 seconds. North Platte’s Corbin Britting earned a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash, ending the race in 23.82 seconds.
In the 400-meter dash, Britting ended in second place, followed by West Platte’s Dominic Williams and Isaac Helmich in fourth and sixth places. In the 200-meter dash, Zendejas earned fifth place for the Blue Jays.
West Platte junior Charlie Kinslow brought home a pair of gold medals in the long distance races when he ran the 800-meter in 2:13.15 and the 1,600 meter in 4:46.63. Jonah McGivern was the fourth runner to cross the finish line in the 800-meter with a time of 2:17.13 and Tristan Newkirk earned fifth place in the 3,200-meter run in 12:24.67.
North Platte also had some impressive long distance runners with Josh Schaffart and Noah Heckman finishing back-to-back in fifth and sixth places in the 1,600 meter run and Waylon McCracken ending in 11th place in the 800-meter run. Heckman won the 3,200-meter race in 10:59.08 and Schaffart ended in eighth place in the 800-meter race in 2:24.87.
West Platte senior Cameron Williams finished in second place in the 300-meter hurdles and sixth place in the 110-meter hurdles. Gus Goodwin was the fifth runner to complete the 300-meter hurdles in 47.34 seconds.
West Platte earned three gold medals in the relays, along with a bronze medal in the 4X800 meter relay. North Platte’s best relay team had Jason Shanks, Britting, Schaffart and McCracken and the Panthers ending in third place in the 4X400.
West Platte had a solid day jumping with August Hill and Dalton Hill finishing in second and third places in the high jump. In the pole vault, North Platte senior Gabe Goodlet earned a gold medal with a 2.92 meter leap, followed by a pair of Blue Jays: Newkirk in second place and McKanan Reade in third place.
West Platte’s Guglielmo Forti leaped 5.59 meters in the long jump to claim fifth place, followed by August Hill in ninth place. Forti also earned fifth place in the triple jump with Williams ending in seventh place.
In the discus, North Platte’s Liam Servaes brought home a gold medal when he had a 37.65 meter heave, followed by West Platte’s Shane Schmidt in fifth place; Panther Ian Bledsoe earned seventh place. Schmidt was able to finish the shot put with a 12.33 meter throw to earn a bronze medal.
North Platte had back-to-back finishers in the top-5 of shot put: Servaes with a 11.9 meter throw and Jesse Williams with an 11.55 meter throw. West Platte’s Elijah Harris finished in seventh place with an 11.08 meter heave.