Sydney Oberdiek took down one school record Saturday, May 13 and has one final chance to add to her legacy this weekend.
West Platte’s senior throw specialist finished second in both the discus and shot put during Class 1 Sectional 4 competition at Jerry Litton Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Mo. Her throw of 127 feet, 6 inches in the discus broke Lexi Collier’s school record by more than 2 feet — a mark Oberdiek had been chasing for three seasons.
Previously, Oberdiek set personal bests in the discus (123-0) and shot put (38-10¾) in the KCI Conference Championships less than two weeks earlier.
Oberdiek’s pair of runner-up finishes and three state-bound relays helped West Platte finish sixth in the final team standings. Oberdiek scored 16 of the 44 points in the two throw events, also finishing second in the shot put at 38-3.
West Platte’s standout 4x800 team survived an off day to advance back to state for a second straight season.
After finishing second in the Class 2 Missouri State Track and Field Championships a year ago, the Bluejays’ 4x800 team of sophomores Lea Moose and Lindsay Goodwin and juniors Sikoya Richard and Rachel Heili were fourth in Class 1 Sectional 4. They finished in 10 minutes, 37.16 seconds — about 17 seconds off their District 8 winning time a week earlier.
West Platte dropped from Class 2 to Class 1 this season, and the 4x800 team still holds aspirations of equaling or bettering last year’s state finish.
The 4x400 and 4x200 relays both finished fourth to give the Bluejays a big total of state qualifiers. Emily Norman and Ciara Davies — a pair of experienced juniors — teamed with freshmen Tori Norman and Kathryn Layton in the 4x200, while the 4x400 consisted of Davies, Heili, Goodwin and freshman Faith Stevens.
The 4x200 improved by just less than 2 seconds from its District 8 time to move from fourth last week to third this week.
Emily Norman (fifth, 100 hurdles), Davies (fifth, 400 and seventh, 200) and Stevens (eighth, high jump) also competed in individual events for West Platte. Davies went to state in the 400 a year earlier and as part of a 12th-place 4x400.
West Platte’s boys continued to make the most of a limited number of participants.
Max Davies, a sophomore, continued his strong long-distance showings, placing second in the 1,600 (4:47.45) before winning the 3,200 (10:40.91). He was just off of his season-best in both events while earning his first state berths.
In addition, Max Davies ran on West Platte’s second-place 4x800 relay with juniors Andrew Cicha, Dylan Lock and Justin Howard. Cicha also competed in the 1,600 and 3,200 but did not finish top four in either race.
West Platte will send a pair of relays to state after the 4x200 team of senior Rylee Crockett and juniors Gavin Raney, Dylan Lock and Brayan Rodriguez came in solidly in fourth but dropped from second in District 8, which sent all four of its sectional qualifying teams on to state.
Crockett added a sectional title to his district title in the 200, finishing in 23.98 to edge out Linn County senior Dusten Coke for first.
West Platte ended up in fifth place with 49 points. Cole Vandel, a sophomore, rounded out the Bluejays’ sectional qualifiers, finishing sixth in the triple jump with another personal best of 40-3¼. He bettered the mark he set a week earlier to grab the fourth and final qualifying spot out of District 8.