Platte County sophomore Sisely Mitchell was the conference champion in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs at the Blue Division Meet on May 5.
There was more than Cinco de Mayo for the Platte County track and field team to celebrate on May 5 as the Pirate boys’ and girls’ track and field teams both finished in second place at the Kansas City Suburban Conference Blue Division Meet at Staley High School.
Platte County had 25 First-Team All-Conference performances and seven conference champions, including the Pirate 4x800-meter relay team of Andrew Early, Connor Currence, Ryan McCoy and Jace Trimble. The four Pirates crossed the finish line nearly seven seconds faster than the next team, Smithville, with a time of 8:34.72.
Currence and Early dominated the Blue Division long-distance as they were also conference champions in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs. Currence won the 800-meter run with a personal best time of 2:02.96 and was right behind Early in the 1,600-meter run – with his second personal best time of the day – when the sophomore crossed the finish line in 4:44.11.
Early claimed first place in a pair of long-distance races with two personal best times. He completed the 1,600-meter run in 4:35.16 and became the Blue Division Conference Champion in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:59.28.
While he wasn’t a conference champion, Andrew Johnson was third place in the 1,600-meter run in 4:45.63 as the Pirates had all top-3 finishers in the event. Johnson also earned a silver medal in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:24.24.
The remaining Platte County conference champions were Lady Pirates Sisely Mitchell, Molly McBratney and Maya Sullivan. Mitchell brought home two gold medals when the sophomore had a PR in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs with times of 5:22.09 and 11:43.33 – in addition to a bronze medal in the 800-meter run when she crossed the finish line in 2:35.38.
After clearing the 3.35-meter pole vault bar, Sullivan brought home a first-place finish in the event. McBratney won the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.52, while senior Triton Davey was the fourth-place finisher in 1:04.41.
The Pirates performed well in the sand pits with three medalists and four top-four finishers in the long and triple jumps. Victor Sewankambo leapt 6.46 meters in the long jump and Andrew McClure hopped 12.33 meters in the triple jump as the duo claimed a pair of silver medals.
A 6.41-meter plunge gave Cole Rhode a bronze medal in the long jump and an 11.70-meter vault lifted Jack Scattini in fourth place in the triple jump. Platte County also did some damage in the relays, finishing in second place in the 4x100-meter relay, third place in the 4x400-meter relay and fourth place in the 4x200-meter relay.
The Lady Pirates also had a solid outing with relays, earning a silver medal in the 4x400-meter relay and bronze medals in the 4x100 and 4x800-meter relays. Platte County finished in fourth place in the 4x200-meter relay.
The Lady Pirates had two of the top-3 finishers in the 300-meter hurdles when Payton Stadel ended in 50.13 seconds and Ava Filger finished in 50.94 seconds to claim second and third places. Joslyn Hupp was Platte County’s top thrower as the junior earned second place in the shot put with a 10.59-meter heave, followed by TaKayla Lawson in fifth place with a personal best 10.09-meter throw.
Reese Pickett plunged to three top-4 finishes in the jumping events when she leapt 4.86 meters in the long jump to receive fourth place and hopped 10.29 meters in the triple jump to claim third place. The Lady Pirate also cleared the 1.52-meter high jump bar to take home the bronze medal in the Blue Division.
Platte County had an all-around solid outing at conference and will hope to keep that going throughout the postseason. Platte County will compete in the Class 5 District 8 Meet at Liberty High School on May 14.