Sydney Oberdiek knows what her big discus throws look like. She’s just struggled to hit one in competition.
In the KCI Conference Championships, West Platte’s all-state senior decimated her personal best with a throw of 123 feet at Rudolph Eskridge Stadium. She went 117-0 earlier in the week and continued to peak with the postseason upcoming this weekend.
NICK INGRAM/Citizen photo
West Platte junior Sydney Oberdiek throws the discus during the KCI Conference Championships held Tuesday, May 2 at Rudolph Eskridge Stadium in Weston, Mo.
“I’ve been throwing that in practice a lot but just haven’t been doing it in a meet,” Oberdiek said, “and it’s been a rough year so that felt really good and getting me pumped up for districts.”
Oberdiek ended up with a pair of league titles with West Platte hosting the meet in its brand-new facilities. She also won the shot put with a distance of 38-10¾, also a personal best.
Both marks put Oberdiek close to Lexi Collier’s school records, and the discus mark is now just 2 feet away.
Oberdiek medaled in the Class 2 Missouri State Track and Field Championships in both throwing events each of the past two seasons. However, West Platte drops down to Class 1 for this season, leaving Oberdiek with plenty of motivation with Class 1 District 8 competition this week back at Rudolph Eskridge Stadium.
“It’s my last season to break those school records,” she said, “and since we just went down to Class 1, there’s a lot of competition there, and a lot of competition we haven’t seen.”
Oberdiek’s titles helped West Platte finish fourth in the final team standings with 92 points.
The Bluejays’ other returning state medalist event also turned in a season-best. The 4x800-meter relay team of Rachel Heili, Lindsay Goodwin, Lea Moose and Sikoya Richard has run together limited times this season due to injuries and scheduling conflicts.
In a solid KCI field, West Platte placed third in a season-best 10:32.82. The same group last year set the school record and finished second in state in the Class 2 meet.
“The goal obviously is to try and get back to state, and we’ve just been pushing to get faster every meet,” Heili said. “We know we can do it so we just have to remind each other that we can do it if we run hard.”
Heili was also third in the open 800 with Richard right behind in fourth, and West Platte junior Ciara Davies came in third in the 400. Heili, Davies, Goodwin and Faith Stevens were second in the 4x400 to close the meet.
North Platte was eighth out of eight in the team standings, and junior McKenna Fulton was third in the 300 hurdles (51.48), one spot ahead of West Platte’s Emily Norman — fourth in both hurdle events.
West Platte’s boys were also fourth with 84 points, just one ahead of Plattsburg.
Max Davies, a sophomore, led the Bluejays’ effort, winning the 3,200 (10:41.48) and placing second in the 1,600 (4:51.94). Junior teammate Andrew Cicha was third in the 3,200.
North Platte came in sixth overall with two event victories. Corbin Green a junior posted an 11.70 in the 100, comin in just 0.71 of a second in front of Plattsburg’s Jordan Kremer. Green also won over Kremer for the 200 title.
West Platte sophomore Lea Moose (left), junior Sikoya Richard (center) and junior Rachel Heili (right) ran in the 4x800-meter relay, helping the Bluejays finish third..
Golden Eagle Invitational
Oberdiek won a pair of throwing events, helping West Platte to a third place finish in the final team standings Tuesday, April 25 in St. Joseph, Mo.
In the discus, the four-time all-state performer set a new personal record at 117-0 to beat Lathrop’s Deidra Sellers by 1 foot. Oberdiek’s previous best came at 116-7 in last year’s Class 2 Missouri State Track and Field Championships.
Oberdiek also won the shot put at 35-11½, a foot and a half better than Plattsburg sophomore Sydney Stephens.
West Platte’s other victory came from Ciara Davies in the 400. She ran 1:03.94, continuing her strong season in the event. The Bluejays’ 4x800 team of Goodwin, Heili, Moose and Richard finished second (10:46.14) in the opening running event behind Hamilton (10:40.94).
North Platte’s girls were 10th out of 15 teams with Fulton second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 51.04.
On the boys side, West Platte came in seventh (57 points), while North Platte was 11th (23 points). Neither team had an individual or relay winner.
Max Davies was second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600 for West Platte, while North Platte’s Corbin Green was third in the 100 (11.74) and second in the 200, which featured a three-way tie for first at 23.44 seconds. Green was picked as the No. 2 finisher.