The Platte County Pirates took home the championship at the Platte County Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 29 at the Platte County Community Center North in Platte City.
The Pirates rolled up 487 points and easily won the 12-team field. Sedalia Smith-Cotton and St. Joseph Central tied for second with 271 points.
Depth aided Platte County as there was only two first-place finishes for the black-and-orange.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Rhett Spell, Jacob Flynn, Joe Ragone and Alex Beall won, finishing in 3:36.24, coasting to a win as Smithville came in second at 3:58.15.
Beall won the 100-yard backstroke win 54.71, while Matteo Herrera, Flynn and Regan Koch all added points with top 10 finishes for Platte County in that event.
Beall added a second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.45) and was part of the 200 medley relay team with Ragone, Philip Davis and Flynn that was second.
Spell was the runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle (23.17) and took third in the 100 freestyle, a spot ahead of Ragone. Davis was part of a fourth-through-seventh finish for the Pirates in the 100 butterfly, while Cameron Osborn was fourth in the 500 freestyle.
Kansas City Classic
Park Hill placed third in the 21-team Kansas City Classic, held Friday and Saturday, Sept. 28-29 at Blue Springs High School.
The Trojans had 243 points, coming in behind Rockhurst (275) and Lee’s Summit North (305).
Park Hill won the 200-yard freestyle relay and posted a state-qualifying time of 1:31.09, lowering from a 1:31.84 time in the prelims. The team was made up of Hunter Dieffenbach, Ray Fugett, Alex Dunlevy and Nick Dieffenbach.
Dunlevy, Duesterhaus and the Dieffenbach were second in the 400 freestyle relay, coming in behind Lee’s Summit North, flipping the results of the prelims.
Nick Dieffenbach was the runner-up in the 50 freestyle, while taking fourth in the 200 and 100 freestyle, the same race that Hunter Dieffenbach was eighth.
Dunlevy was fifth in the 500 freestyle, followed by Jacob Fickenscher in sixth and Duesterhaus in seventh, who added a sixth in the 200 freestyle. Dunlevy was sixth in the 200 IM.
Eubanks Invitational
The Pirates took third place in the Blue Division in the Eubanks Invitational held on Thursday, Sept. 27 at Raytown High School.
Baxter Stone picked up a first-place finish for the Pirates by winning the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.86), winning by nearly three seconds.
Alex Beall was part of three second-place finishes. He was second in the 100 backstroke (54.86) and in the 100 freestyle (51.17), the same race where Rhett Spell was fourth.
Beall, Stone, Spell and Ryan Dye were on the 200 yard medley relay that was third.
Stone, Ethan Stone, Hunter Bowen and Joe Ragone took third in the 200 freestyle relay.
Lee’s Summit Duals
Park Hill South beat Lee’s Summit and Ray-Pec during a meet held on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at Lee’s Summit High School.
The Panthers won four races and Greyson Langer took first in the 1-meter diving. Depth was a key for the success as five events had two Panthers in the top three finishers, including the 200 yard medley relay. The team of Fletcher Burns, Zander Livingston, Luke Brown and Chris Wissmann won (1:46.72) and Ethan Jensen/Clell Burdiss/Wyatt Morgan/Nate Shaw was third.
Brown and Livingston finished 1-2 in the 100 yard freestyle for the Panthers, while Brown was first in the 50 freestyle. Alec Enyeart won the 500 freestyle (4:59.59), while Burns was third in the same race.
Brown, Enyeart, Wissmann and Livingston was the runners-up in the 200 freestyle relay, while the 400 freestyle relay team also took second. That featured Shaw, Burns, Burdiss and Enyeart.
Shaw and Burdiss finished second and third, respectively, in the 200 freestyle and Shawn was the runner-up in the 100 backstroke. Livingston was second and Wisssman was third in the 100 breaststroke.
Wissmann was the runner-up in the 100 butterfly and Enyeart took third in the 200 IM.