Platte County’s Caden McGhee hands the baton to Aaron Cordova in the Pirates’ 4x200-meter relay in 1:30.23 at the Kansas City Suburban Conference White Division Track Meet at William Chrisman High School on May 3.
Platte County’s first year in the Kansas City Suburban Conference White Division went well for the track and field teams, with both the boys and girls taking top-2 at William Chrisman High School on May 3.
The Lady Pirates became conference champions on the day – behind a record-breaking day by senior Reese Pickett – with 139.5 points, a comfortable 17-point margin over the runner-up Grain Valley. It went the opposite on the boys’ side, with Platte County boys trailing Grain Valley by 26 points and taking second place in conference with 100 points.
Pickett competed in three of the four jumping events available, taking two gold medals and one silver medal. The senior broke the Platte County triple jump record – previously held by Chandrika Brewton who set it in 2009 – with a leap of 36-10.25 feet.
Pickett won the high jump and took second place in the long jump, as well. The talented jumper cleared a 5-01-foot bar and hopped 16-04.5 feet in her second time in the sand pit.
Other Lady Pirates had some success in those events, led by Payton Stadel who collected a bronze medal in the long jump in 16-00.25 feet and sixth place in the triple jump in 33-06.75 feet. Madison Hoyt took sixth place in the high jump with a height of 4-07 feet.
Platte County senior Reese Pickett broke the Lady Pirates triple jump record with a leap of 36-10.25 feet at the Kansas City Suburban Conference White Division Track Meet.
Sisely Mitchell carried Platte County in the long-distance events, winning all three individual races that she ran in. The junior had a time of 2:28.52 in the 800-meter run, comfortably came away with a first-place finish in the 1,600-meter run in 5:26.81 and crossed the finish line in 12:19.01 in the 3,200-meter run.
Carmen Gentilia was 15 seconds behind Mitchell in the mile to earn second place and claimed a bronze medal in the 3,200-meter run in 12:33.4. Only three schools competed in the 4x800-meter relay and Platte County was the first of the three to cross the finish line, doing so in 10:17.77.
Platte County also won the 4x100 in 50.87 seconds, took third place in the 4x200 with a time of 1:52.43 and was the runner-up in the 4x400 with a time of 4:21.87. Hannah Mand was the top sprinter for the Lady Pirates when the senior took second place in the 100-meter dash in 13.05 seconds, fourth place in the 200-meter dash in 27.25 seconds and fifth place in the 400-meter dash in 1:04.98.
Adi Benninghoff won the 100-meer hurdles in 16.5 seconds, half a second faster than Ava Filger who ended in second place. Filger went on to win the 300-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line in 49.29 seconds.
Sisely Mitchell and Carmen Gentilia led a pack of runners in the first lap of the 1,600-meter run as the Platte County duo finished in the first two places.
For the Platte County boys, most of its damage was done in the relays. The Pirates won three of the four relays – the 4x100 in 42.9 seconds, 4x200 in 1:30.23 and the 4x800 in 8:26.48 – then took second place in the 4x400 in 3:35.93
Andrew Johnson collected second-place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:04.93, right ahead of Ryan McCoy who finished in 2:05.48. Johnson won the mile with a time of 4:32.72, followed by Kade Meinke and Blake Herron in fifth and sixth places.
Johnson won the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:51.6. Meinke took third place in 10:13.
Garrett Smith was a runner-up in the long jump, hopping 20-06.5 feet and Dom Spears’ 20-04.5 feet was good enough for fifth place. Spears took second place in the triple jump with a hop of 40-11.75 feet.
Jackson Thornton cleared the 5-06.25-foot-high jump bar to take fourth place. Cameron Wolfe tossed the discus 141-02 feet, winning the event. Augustus Keeton took fourth place with a throw of 126-07 feet.
Caden McGhee claimed third place in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.97 seconds and third place in the 300-meter hurdles in 43.78 seconds. Platte County officially wrapped up the regular season at conference, set to compete in districts at Staley High School on May 13.