The Lady Pirates and Lady Panthers made a big splash at the Kansas City Suburban Conference Swim Meet when the Platte County girls’ swimming team won the Blue Division and Park Hill South became the Red Division Champions on Feb. 5.
In the Blue Division, Platte County finished with 554 points - which was 148 more than second place Kearney.
Platte County had two first place relay teams in the 400-yard freestyle relay and in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Meredith Ballou, Drew Delay and Brooklynn Hays were on both relay teams with Madeline Judy being in the 200 and Madeline Stone in the 400.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Stone, Blair Bolling, Ireland Shank and Madeline Judy finished in third place. The Pirate relay team had a time of 2:02.91.
Delay was the second place finisher in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in 2:06.18, followed by Charlotte Hamond in fifth place with a time of 2:24.31. Delay also won the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:10.48 time right ahead of Hays in second place.
The top-three finishers in the 200-yard individual medley were Pirates led by Ballou in 2:19.75. Stone was the second-place finisher when she ended with a time of 2:28.49 and Shank was right behind her in 2:35.64.
Hays was the second-place finisher in the 50-yard freestyle as she completed the race in 25.49 seconds. Lauren Beatty and Judy finished back-to-back in fifth and sixth places.
Beatty was the second fastest Platte County swimmer in the 500-yard freestyle as she finished in fifth place overall with a time of 6:16.96. Bolling ended right ahead of Beatty in fourth place with a time of 6:16.02.
Platte County picked up a chunk of points in the 100-yard backstroke with four of the top-six finishers. Madeline Stone finished in second place, Jayden Benninghoff ended in third place, Erian Stone was in fourth place and Maria Molinari was the sixth-place finisher.
Ballou finished the 100-yard butterfly in second place with a time of 1:01.59, followed by Shank in fifth place and Hammond in sixth place. Erian Stone and Judy barely missed the sub-minute mark in the 100-yard freestyle finishing with times of 1:01.75 and 1:02.4, respectively.
In the 200-yard medley relay, the Park Hill South team of Madi McNearney, Alyssa Gordon, Sydney Staebell and Hannah Peterson led the way. That relay team finished in first place with a time of 1:51.45.
McNearney and Staebell were alongside Lola Reuscher and Molly Henry in the 400-yard freestyle relay when Park Hill South finished in first place with a time of 3:43.37. The Panthers’ 200-yard freestyle relay team of Avery Roach, Natalie Dunaway, Peterson and Reuscher finished in first place in 1:41.89.
McNearney also shined in individual events, especially in the 500-yard freestyle when she was the first-place finisher in 5:24.6. McNearney also won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:00.28 – immediately followed by Ruby Livingston and Henry.
Platte County’s Madeline Stone and Park Hill South’s Natalie Maris, above, race against each other in the 200 individual medley at the Kansas City Suburban Conference Meet at Gladstone Community Center on Feb. 4.
Park Hill South dominated in the 200-yard individual medley as four of the first five places belonged to the Panthers, starting with Staebell with a time of 2:10.24. Natalie Maris was in second place with a 2:15.12 time, Gordon ended in third place in 2:17.34 and Livingston was a fifth-place finisher with a time of 2:21.73.
Staebell also impressed in the 100-yard butterfly - being the only swimmer to finish in under one minute - ending in first place in 59.71 seconds. Henry was the next swimmer to complete the race and Bella Knittig ended in sixth place.
Reuscher won the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle when she ended the competitions in 25.03 seconds and 54.73 seconds, respectively. Not far behind Reuscher in the 50-yard freestyle was a pair of Panthers: Dunaway in third place and Peterson in fourth place.
In the 100-yard freestyle, Dunaway was the third swimmer to end the race as she finished with a time of 55.29 seconds. Roach ended in sixth place in 58.01 seconds. McDaniel finished in fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:06.22, while Gracie Moran ended in 2:13.19, which was good for eighth place.