Pirates' swim starts season off with victory

The Platte County girls’ swimming team started the 2021 season off with a tri-meet victory over Kearney and Smithville on Nov. 30.

The Pirates won the tri-meet with a score of 588, while the Bulldogs finished with 553 and the Warriors ended with 213. Drew Delay finished in first place in the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke with times of 2:12.73 and 1:13.07, respectively.

Madeleine Stone finished the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke faster than any of her opponents as the Pirates ended in times of 2:31.37 and 1:09.35. Meridith Ballou was the top-finisher in the 100-yard freestyle when she finished in 58.57 seconds.

Platte County had three of the top four finishers in the 50-yard freestyle with Ireland Shank, Madeline Judy and Lauren Beatty. Shank ended in first place in 28.45 seconds, Judy finished in second place in 28.46 seconds and Beatty finished in fourth place in 28.68 seconds.

The Pirates’ 200-yard medley relay team of Stone, Delay, Ballou and Judy finished in first place with a time of 2:04.46. Platte County had that same lineup in the 200-yard freestyle and finished in first place as well, that time with a 1:49.89 result.

The Pirates won one more relay on the day in the 400-yard freestyle. The team consisted of Shank, Beatty, Erian Stone and Ella Chiddix and they finished in 4:43.51.