Platte County had a special year from the beginning to the end with eight district championship appearances, 12 state appearances and one team state championship.
The fall was full of sports for the Pirates – football, softball, volleyball, cross-country, boys’ swimming, girls’ golf, boys’ soccer and girls’ tennis – with four state appearances. Softball, swimming, golf and cross-country were Platte County’s most successful teams in the fall.
After losing six senior starters from the 2021 season, the Platte County softball team surprised some people by returning to the Class 4 State Tournament. For the second consecutive year, the Lady Pirates earned third place at state.
Both boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams ran their way to state with the Pirates taking ninth place and the Lady Pirates finishing in 13th place. Sophomore Sisely Mitchell was the top-finisher for Platte County, taking 11th place when she crossed the state finish line in 19:12.10.
Eden Shipp’s 19th place finish in the Class 3 State Golf Meet led the Lady Pirates to a sixth-place finish. The swimming team took 17th in Class 1 State with 37 points.
The Pirates’ football run of back-to-back state title appearances came to an end when they fell 22-20 in the Class 5 District 8 Championship against Fort Osage. Platte County went 9-3 on the season and shut out three opponents, only allowing more than one score in four of its 12 games.
The Platte County tennis team was the only team to not make it to a district title game or have a state appearance after falling to St. Pius X in the Class 2 District 8 Semifinals. The Pirate boys’ soccer team (20-4) and volleyball team (24-10) both advanced to a district championship and lost there.
In the next season, the Platte County wrestling team stole the show when it claimed three individual state champions: Jaydon Walls (195), KayLyn Munn (194) and Jake Fernandez (220). In what was less than 10 minutes of real time, the Pirates collected a trio of gold medals at Mizzou Arena on Feb. 19.
Munn was the first state medalist in the brief history of the Lady Pirate wrestling program. Eli Rocha (160) and Blaine Keuhn (170) also brought some hardware back to Platte County with second and fifth-place medals.
The Platte County boys’ basketball team (22-5) had one of the greatest seasons in program history, but it came to an end in the Class 5 District 8 Championship Game. The Pirates’ offense was immaculate, when they shot 48.3 percent from the field and scored 69 points a game with five players who averaged at least nine points.
The Platte County baseball team holds up the Class 5 State Championship Plaque after the Pirates finished off the spring with a state title.
Jarett Mueller was the Kansas City Suburban Conference Blue Division Player of the Year and earned all-state honors. The Platte County senior scored 18 points per game and ended with 42 percent from the field and 82 percent from the charity stripe en route to 78 made shots from behind the arc on 37 percent shooting.
The Lady Pirates had a less successful basketball season, finishing 8-15, but was close to upsetting Van Horn in the Class 5 District 18 Tournament. Platte County had a few injuries in the postseason contest, yet lost by a mere two points.
The Lady Pirates’ swimming team made a splash at state, claiming 21st place in Class 1. Meredith Ballou ended her triumphant Platte County career with an eighth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke and a 14th place in the 200-yard individual medley.
Once spring came around Platte County was at its best, having vigorous seasons all across the board. Platte County had success in nearly every sport throughout the year, but only held a championship plaque in the final one.
The highlight of the spring was also the peak of the entire year as the Pirates capped off the 2021-22 school year with a state title in baseball. The Pirate baseball team went 20 years without a trip to state, but the return two decades later had the fairytale ending.
Platte County poured out 11 runs over the course of its two games in the tournament, taking down Ft. Zumwalt East and Festus in the process. The Pirates were led by nine seniors this spring en route to a 27-win season.
The Platte County track and field team had a tougher road this spring than it did last season after bouncing from Class 4 to Class 5 yet still sent eight events to state. Chandler Steinmeir had the highest finish, taking silver in the 300-meter hurdles.
The Pirates’ 4x100-meter relay team sped past all but five other teams in the largest class to take a sixth-place finish. The relay team was put together by Trevor Scott, Cole Rhoden, Nathan Walls and Victor Sewankambo.
Parker Amos was the only Pirate golfer to qualify for the Class 4 State Tournament, when the senior tied for 54th place out of 83. Similarly in tennis, Gavin Nichols was the only singles state qualifier – where the sophomore was joined by the doubles team of Austin and Nathan Vanek – after Platte County fell short in the district championship match against Grain Valley.
The Lady Pirates’ soccer team wrapped up the best two-year stretch the program has seen in 12 years with two consecutive 22-plus win seasons. After a 24-3 finish in 2021, Platte County went 22-4 this spring as three of its four losses were against Smithville.