Platte County junior Andrew Johnson (#416) leads the pack of district runners with a time of 15:53 before winning the race and leading the Pirates to a district championship at Jesse James Park on Oct. 29.
The cross-country season is far from over for Platte County as the boys’ and girls’ teams both qualified for the Class 4 State Race with top-3 finishes at the Class 4 District 4 Meet at Jesse James Park on Oct. 29.
The Platte County boys came away as district champions with ease, coming out 26 points ahead of second-place Smithville. The Lady Pirates advanced to state for the third straight season after taking third place with 72 points.
Junior Andrew Johnson became an individual district champion for the first time in his career and has now finished in first place in his last three races. Johnson won the district race with a time of 15:53, which was 30 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
Kade Meinke finished in fourth place with a time of 17:19 and Tanner Jenks rounded up the top-10 with a time of 17:35. The Pirates’ next two runners ran sub-19 as Blake Herron took 14th place and Donavin Ness claimed 17th place, while Tanner Johnson ran a 19:05 in 34th place.
Sisely Mitchell and Carmen Gentilia ran in the top-4 with Mitchell finishing with a time of 19:21 to become the district runner-up. Gentilia claimed fourth place when the junior crossed the finish line in 20:31.
The next four Lady Pirates ran in under 24 minutes, starting with Alex Beeman who ended in 21st place in 22:47. Madison Palmer finished in 23:18, Marissa Orellana finished in 23:24 and Annabel Beeman finished in 23:57.
Joanna Reil ended in 35th place with a time of 24:04 to help the Lady Pirates clinch a spot at state. The Class 4 State Race will be at Gans Creek in Columbia on Nov. 4.