Platte County senior Reese Pickett poses with the Kansas Jayhawk mascot after nearly breaking the triple jump program record in the KU Relays at Rock Chalk Park on April 13.
On the 100th anniversary of the Kansas Relays, select individuals from Platte County, Park Hill, Park Hill South, North Platte and West Platte competed at Rock Chalk Park on April 13-15.
For the first time since 2019, the University of Kansas hosted the Kansas Relays – an event that started in 1923 with the exceptions of a few years – that brings together the top high school talent from various locations. There have been a few occasions that kept the Kansas Relays from occurring over the last century, such as World War II in 1943-45 and stadium renovations in 1998-1999, and the last few seasons haven’t happened because of COVID-19.
The final day’s events were cancelled due to inclement weather, but not before some rememberable performances. Platte County brought three relay teams but was led by triple jumper Reese Pickett who had a PR of 35-9.25 feet – which was only 3 centimeters short of the program record – to take 15th place.
Park Hill South had a taste of other top-tier relay opponents as the Panthers entered the day with multiple first-place finishes thus far. Briggs Bartosh, Troy Mosby and Shane Smith are on both relays with Charles Noland being on the 4x100 and Darrien Jones on the 4x200.
The Panthers took fourth place in the 4x100-meter in 43.10 seconds, with St. Louis University High – the only Missouri school who beat the Panthers – winning it with a time of 42.47 seconds. Park Hill wasn’t too far behind Park Hill South, taking ninth place with a time of 43.64 seconds with James Christopher, Max Filion, James Noel and Manasse Ordeus.
Bartosh also succeeded individually, claiming fifth place in the 100-meter dash when the Panther senior crossed the finish line in 10.73 seconds. Park Hill South went on to win the 4x200 with a time of 1:28.66.
Judy Elful had the best outing for the Park Hill South girls. The senior finished in sixth place in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.25 seconds and 14th place in the 300-meter hurdles in 48.29 seconds.
Jamari Ervin, Cali Richards, Alyssa Ball and Mackenzie Moretina helped the Park Hill girls’ 4x100-meter relay team take ninth place with a time of 50.27 seconds. Ball finished in 10th place in the open 100-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 12.10 seconds and setting a PR; Moretina took 13th place in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.37 seconds and 20th place in the 300-meter hurdles in 49.22 seconds.
In the field events, Kendrick Bell had the best finish in the high jump out of every Missouri athlete that competed. Bell took third place overall when he cleared the 6-foot-6 bar.
Desire Tonye-Nymeck had a high jump of 6-foot-4 to end in seventh place, while Brooke Boehm collected 18th place in long jump with a leap of 16-3 foot. In the javelin, Jordan Smith had a 181-foot heave for fifth place and Jordan Rider’s 169-7-foot throw resulted in ninth place.
North Platte senior Olivia Rogers broke the program record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.01 seconds to qualify to the finals. With the top-2 runners completing the finals in less than 12 seconds, Rogers finished in seventh place with a time of 12.27 seconds.
Lindsay Ramsey qualified in the 400-meter run when she took fifth place in the opening round – and second place in her heat – in 59.04 seconds. She improved her time to 58.51 seconds in the finals, claiming fifth place overall.
Ramsey and Rogers were joined by Graci Williams and Kenedie Summers on the 4x200-meter relay team that finished in eighth place overall. The Lady Panthers’ finals’ time was 1:46.92 and they were one of only three Missouri schools to finish in the top-8.
North Platte had another top-8 finish in relays in the 4x1,600-meter, taking eighth place in 23:00.27. That team was made up of Chloe Heckman, Shelby Lingle, Jessa Cassity and Brianna DeBord.
West Platte brought a few relay teams, but none of them qualified for finals. Charlie Kinslow had the top individual performance for the Blue Jays as the senior long-distance runner finished in 17th place out of 44 total 800-meter runners with a time of 1:59.32.
Sam Baker had the 26th overall fastest time in the 400-meter run, including a seventh-place finish in her heat. She ended with a time of 1:05.01 and was the only Lady Blue Jay individual to compete in a non-relay event.