Platte County senior Maya Sullivan, above, clinched a spot at state with a 3.20 meter pole vault at Liberty North High School on May 21.
With a chance to punch their ticket to state, the Platte County track and field team delivered when the Pirates competed in sectionals at Liberty North High School on May 21.
Sisely Mitchell has built off her successful cross-country season last fall where she finished in 11th place at state as the sophomore has qualified in two individual events at state track for the first time in her young career. Mitchell beat all but one runner in both the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs at sectionals, crossing the finish line with times of 5:26.39 and 11:36.97.
The defending pole vault state champion Maya Sullivan has a chance to repeat in the event as the senior vaulted 3.20 meters to take third place at sectionals. Reese Pickett had three shots at state with the high jump, long jump and triple jump but came up just short in two of the three events.
Only the top-4 finishers in each event at sectionals move on and the junior tied for the fifth-place height in the high jump with 1.52 meters. A 5.03-meter leap in the long jump wasn’t quite good enough to qualify for state as Pickett claimed sixth place in the event.
Pickett is headed to state in the triple jump for the first time in her career when a 10.50-meter leap landed the junior in fourth place. Last season, Pickett ended in fifth place in the high jump and tenth place in the long jump at state.
The Lady Pirates had three relay teams make it to sectionals, but only the 4x200-meter relay team advanced. Riley Smith, Triton Davey, Molly McBratney and Hannah Mand led the relay team to the last state qualifying place – fourth – when they ended in 1:48.34.
The Platte County boys went one for one in relays, sending its only team – the 4x100-meter relay – to state. In school record breaking fashion, Nate Falls, Trevor Scott, Cole Rhoden and Victor Sewankambo crossed the finish line in 42.89 seconds to end as the sectional runner-up.
Sewankambo snuck in as the last qualifier in the 100-meter dash, running the race in 10.86 seconds. In upset fashion, Chandler Steinmeier became the champion in the 300-meter hurdles when he broke his personal best time with 39.99 seconds.
Platte County will head to Jefferson City High School on May 27 and 28 for the Class 5 State Track Meet. The Pirates will have 12 players competing at the meet.