Platte County senior Reese Pickett tied for 10th place in the high jump after clearing the 5-1.25-foot bar at the Class 5 State Meet.
Spending the last three years establishing her legacy on the Platte County girls’ track and field team, senior Reese Pickett wrapped up her high school career with three events at the Class 5 State Meet at Jefferson City High School on May 26 and 27.
Having one less year under her belt than many Lady Pirates who came before her since COVID-19 cancelled her freshman season, Pickett walks away from Platte County among elite company. She’s in the top-5 of program history in all three jumping events, being first in the triple jump, second in the long jump and fourth in the high jump.
Platte County has been in Class 5 – the biggest class in the state in track and field – the last two years but was in Class 4 in 2021 when Pickett was a sophomore. That season, she took fifth place in the high jump and 10th place in the long jump.
Last season, Pickett qualified to the Class 5 State Meet in the triple jump but missed out on all-state honors, taking 12th place. To end her senior campaign, she made it to state in all three jumping events this go-around and was close in all three, but just missed the podium thrice.
Pickett competed in triple jump on the opening day, taking 11th place and fell short of all-state honors by 5-25 inches. Her first jump was her best – leaping 34-07.75 feet – followed by a 34-4.75-foot jump and a fault.
To start day two at state track, Pickett was in the long jump and was one of the 11 athletes who moved on to the final jumps. Five jumpers didn’t reach it past the first three jumps with the other 11 getting three more attempts.
Pickett’s best jump was her third, hopping 17-9.75 feet, which put her in sixth place at the time. In the last three tries, the Platte County senior’s best jump was 17-2.25-feet, with her other two not reaching 17 feet.
Fort Osage’s Jocelynn Nunez took eighth place, tying with Pickett for the same length of their best jumps. Nunez’s second-best jump was better than Pickett’s by 7.25 inches, which made the difference from earning a medal as she took ninth place.
Pickett got a short break, then headed to the high jump and had one last chance to finish her career on the podium. With the first height being 4-11.5 feet, Pickett cleared that on her second try.
The bar was raised to 5-1.25 feet on the next round, and the Platte County senior was unable to clear it in the first two jumps. Each athlete gets three tries to jump over the bar before being knocked out and Pickett did so on her last attempt.
Four jumpers were eliminated before the height was put at 5-3.25-feet, which Pickett was unable to jump over. She ended in a tie for 10th place, thus bringing her high school career to a close.