West Platte senior Charlie Kinslow finished in seventh place at the 2021 Class 2 State Meet with a time of 16:34.
With a talented senior trio that has been a part of back-to-back improvements at state, the West Platte boys’ cross-country team has high aspirations for the fall.
After finishing in 11th place in all of Class 2 in 2020, the Blue Jays made the jump last year and brought home sixth place. With three seniors – Charlie Kinslow, Tristan Newkirk and Hutch Bartee – and sophomore Jonah McGivern bringing back experience, West Platte plans to do some damage this season.
“We have talked about that and said we have looked year to year here; we have three seniors on this team, so this is the last rodeo,” West Platte head cross-country coach Mike Lowe said. “We’re excited for what we can do; we always shoot for the podium, and I think they truly believe it this year.”
Kinslow is a talented runner who ended his junior campaign – in both cross-country and track and field – on a high note. The senior has the potential to break the 5K school record, which is currently 16:27 held by Spencer Hudson since 2012, as Kinslow finished his junior season with a 16:34 when he finished in seventh place at state.
“He ran his PR at state last year and looks super good so far this year so I will be surprised if he doesn’t go under 16:30 early in the season. He worked hard all summer and did AAU stuff, so he’s taken the bull by the horns and he’s pushing them and he’s pushing himself,” Lowe said.
McGivern and Newkirk are looking like they will swap back-and-forth between the number two and number three runners as they have been close together in early season practices. A new addition for the Blue Jays is freshman Noah Rees.
“Noah’s going to be pretty good; he’s probably going to be where Jonah was last year, and we think he can be a low 18:00 guy at the end of the season. He has an edge to him and an attitude to him, even as a freshman he is setting in pretty good with those seniors,” Lowe said.
Bartee and sophomore Thomas Deffet both ran at state last year and will be the next runners up. Coach Lowe told the Platte County Citizen that his biggest challenge is getting those two as close to the other guys as possible.
“Number five most of the time is going be who was our seven last year, Thomas Deffet, and so far, he’s been doing that. If he can get down to 19:00 or 18:50, we’ll be in good shape,” Lowe said.