West Platte senior Julia Pattison hands the baton to Blair McHenry in the 4x800 at the Smithville Invitational on March 28.
SMITHVILLE – The track and field season has officially begun as North Platte and West Platte had some early competition at the Smithville Invitational on March 28.
There were 17 schools that showed out, most of which were bigger than North Platte and West Platte. KCI Conference rivals East Buchanan and Lathrop were the only other Class 2 schools, making the meet even tougher for the athletes.
North Platte junior sprinter Lindsay Ramsey had no issue at the Smithville Invitational, bringing home a pair of gold medals. She won the 100-meter dash in 12.71 seconds and the 400-meter dash in 56.91 seconds.
Ramsey helped North Platte’s 4x400 take second place with a time of 4:21.47. Graci Williams was in the relay and also took sixth place in the open 400, completing one lap in 1:05.01.
Chloe Heckman led the way in the long distance races for the Lady Panthers, earning two medals. She finished in second place in the mile and fourth place in the 2-mile.
Heckman ran the races with times of 5:44.95 and 12:18.46. Brianna DeBord was right behind her in the mile – ending in 5:56.16 – and took fifth place in the 800-meter run in 2:41.61.
West Platte hurdler Hailey Peters took fifth place in the 100 meters in 17.98 seconds. In the 300 meters, Addison Bailey took fourth place in 53.23 seconds and Hana Hoover took sixth place in 54.07 seconds.
Avery Holmes was the only other Lady Blue Jay sprinter who medaled as an individual, crossing the finish line seventh in the 400-meter dash in 1:05.39. West Platte had all four relays finish in the top-4, led by the 4x400 who won with a time of 4:19.56.
The Lady Blue Jays did some damage in the field events with three sixth-place finishes. Klaira Groom high jumped 1.4 meters, Maddison McMillan threw the javelin 31.51 meters and Bailey triple jumped 9.76 meters.
Bailey also had success in the long jump. She leaped 4.55 meters to take eighth place and giving her three individual medals.
Noah Heckman, Drake Keraus and Corbin Britting all earned two individual medals for the North Platte boys. Heckman and Keraus did it in the long distance races and Britting did it in the sprints.
Heckman kicked off his senior season with a pair of fourth place finishes in the mile and the 2-mile. He ended with times of 4:50.99 and 10:25.72.
Keraus won the mile in 4:43.19 and took eighth place in the 800-meter run in 2:09.78. Britting earned third place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.15 seconds and was the eighth 100-meter dash runner to cross the finish line – doing so in 11.78 seconds.
The Panthers had two of their three relays finish in the top-8 as the 4x400 ended in fourth place in 3:44 and the 4x100 ended in eighth place in 46.52 seconds. Coen Rainsbarger impressed in the field events, having a third place pole vault of 3.4 meters.
For West Platte, Augie Hill was the only athlete with a first place finish when he won the 100-meter dash in 11.26 seconds. He took second place in the 200-meter dash in 22.72 seconds, which was three places and 1.06 seconds faster than Will Shafer.
In the 400-meter dash, Jonah McGivern and Brady McMillan finished back-to-back in fourth and fifth places just over 52 seconds. The 4x200 won with a time of 1:32.41, followed by the 4x100 and 4x400 taking third place; West Platte’s 4x800 took sixth place.
Alex Kinslow and Miles McHenry both placed in the top-6 in both the 110 and 300-meter hurdles. McHenry broke his own program record in the javelin with a 52.61 meter throw, taking second place in the event.