DEARBORN – West Platte has familiarity at the North Platte track and field and that was apparent when the Blue Jays swept the Panther Invitational on April 15.
West Platte’s Augie Hill set the school record in the 100 and 200-meter dashes at the North Platte Invitational on April 15.
The West Platte boys ended with 159 points, which was 50 more than second place North Platte. The Lady Blue Jays nearly outscored the runner-up by 100 points as they ended with 184.5 points; the Lady Panthers took sixth place with 55 points.
West Platte dominated in the short hurdles, having the first two finishers for both boys and girls. Hailey Peters won with a time of 17.06 seconds, which was .41 seconds ahead of Hana Hoover; Miles McHenry won with a time of 16.08 seconds, followed by Alex Kinslow in 16.34 seconds.
In the 300-meter hurdles, Addison Bailey was the runner-up in 51.91 seconds and Hoover took fifth place in 54.03 seconds – Lady Panther hurdler Kylee Sipes earned fourth place in 52.88 seconds. Kinslow won the 300 with a time of 42.64 seconds.
Jonah McGivern and Brady McMillan’s performances in the 400-meter dash were huge for the Blue Jays. McGivern took first place in 52 seconds and McMillan was in second place in 52.29 seconds.
Augie Hill broke two school records on the night, winning the 100-meter dash in 10.84 seconds. His 22.24 second 200-meter dash was good enough for program history but not good enough for first place as he trailed University Academy Charter freshman Christian Davis by 0.35 seconds.
Hill’s brother, Austin, also had success on the day with a fourth place 2-mile in 11:24.94. He was behind a pair of Panthers as Noah Heckman took first place in 10:35.8 and Drake Keraus was the runner-up in 10:45.44.
West Platte junior Sam Baker was ahead of all 400-meter sprinters with a time of 1:02.59, which was two places and 2.71 seconds faster than Avery Holmes. Baker ended second in the 200-meter dash in 27.48 seconds and Holmes claimed fourth place in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:41.6.
West Platte sophomore Payton Reber took second place in the mile in 6:16.68, just ahead of North Platte senior Caitlyn Cummings in 6:17.12. North Platte sophomore Chloe Heckman won the 2-mile in 12:00, followed by West Platte senior Julia Pattison 35 seconds later.
Lindsay Ramsey only ran in one individual race for North Platte and won the 100-meter dash in 12.23 seconds. Lady Blue Jay Sophie Grier ended in 13.47 seconds in fourth place.
Brianna DeBord was in a similar boat as Ramsey, being the third 800-meter runner to cross the finish line, doing so in 2:38.78. In the 100, North Platte senior Corbin Britting finished fourth in 11.28 seconds as West Platte senior Will Shafer ended in fourth in the 200 in 23.11 seconds.
In the field events, North Platte senior Jesse Williams led the way with a first place shot put of 12.45 meters, followed by Cameron Wortham in third place with a 10.96 meters throw. Wortham went on to win the discus – right ahead of Blue Jay Mathew Hayne’ 31 .74 meter throw – with a 37.9 meter heave.
West Platte killed it in the javelin, led by McHenry winning with a 48.85-meter heave. Grier was in third place of the girls with a 31.48-meter throw.
Klaira Groom cleared the 1.4-meter high jump bar and earned third place. On the boys’ side, Caleb Wright claimed second place for the Panthers and Johnny Jackson was in fourth place with jumps of 1.75 and 1.6 meters.
Coen Rainsbarger had a 3.65-meter pole vault for a first-place finish for North Platte.
West Platte freshman Cambrie Swope took third place in the discus with a 27.11-meter throw.
McGivern was the runner-up in the long jump with a 5.64-meter jump. Bailey won the triple jump with a leap of 10.02 meters followed by Kaelyn Eades in third place with a jump of 9.56 meters.