Platte County’s Ava Filger and Adi Benninghoff run alongside Park Hill senior first-place finisher Mackenzie Moretina in the 100-meter hurdles at the Staley Relays on March 29.
KANSAS CITY – Like many seasons in the past, Platte County, Park Hill and Park Hill South competed in the Staley Relays – an early season track and field meet that focuses on relays instead of individual races – on March 29.
The Platte County and Park Hill girls’ tied for first with 107 points as Park Hill South ended in seventh place with 40 points. The Pirates also won with 114 points, followed by the second-place Trojans with 105 points and the Panthers in fifth place with 78.5 points.
Outside of the relays, the only other running events were the mile and hurdles. The Staley Relays had all the field events as well.
In addition to the traditional relays, there were three additional ones – all of which were medleys – starting with the sprint medley. The first two legs ran 100 meters, followed by the third leg running 200 meters and the anchor ending with 400 meters.
Platte County shined in that relay with the boys winning in 1:36.22 and the girls taking second place in 1:59.9. The Park Hill boys ended in third place with a time of 1:38.5, followed by eighth place Park Hill South in 1:45.78, and the Park Hill girls finished in third place in 2:02.89.
Following the mile and 4x100, the Staley Relays had a distance medley relay. The first leg ran 1,200 meters, followed by 400, 800 and 1,000 meters.
Both Platte County teams took second place and both Park Hill’s took sixth place. The Park Hill South boys won with a time of 10:57.6 and the girls ended in fifth place in 14:59.67.
The final medley relay started with a pair of 200-meter legs, followed by a 400-meter and ending with an 800-meter anchor.
In the girls’ relay, Park Hill won with a time of 4:34.35, three places ahead of Platte County’s 4:45.63 time. For the boys, the Panthers took second place in 3:52.62, the Pirates ended in third place in 3:54.06 and the Trojans finished in sixth place in 4:04.42.
The Pirates also thrived in the regular relays, winning the 4x400 and 4x800, along with taking second place in the 4x100 and 4x200. The Lady Pirates earned second place in the 4x800 and seventh place in the 4x200, along with a pair of fourth place finishes in the 4x100 and 4x400.
In the 4x800, the Trojans ended in second place with a time of 8:37.24 and the Panthers were right behind them in 8:40.26. Park Hill also took third place in the 4x100 and 4x400, in addition to a fourth-place finish in the 4x200.
The Lady Trojans ended in third place in the 4x100 and 4x400. Their best relay was the 4x200, which took second place in 1:47.86.
Park Hill had success across the board, having 18 top-5 individual finishes. In the boys’ high jump, the Trojans had the first, second and fourth place jumpers.
Legend Freelon won after clearing the 1.97-meter bar, followed by Desire Tonye-Nyemeck with a 1.92-meter jump and Landen Julson who leaped 1.83 meters. Park Hill South’s Damon Stacker finished in sixth place with a 1.77-meter jump and Everett Grower had an eighth-place finish when he cleared the 1.72-meter bar.
Braylon Agee won both hurdles with times of 15.45 seconds and 42.44 seconds, followed by Jordan Smith in the 110-meter with a time of 15.55 seconds. The Trojan duo also stood out in the long jump as Smith won with a 6.19-meter leap and Agee earned third place with a 6.09-meter jump.
Platte County freshman Jack Johnson was right behind Smith in the 300-meter hurdles, ending in 42.85 seconds. He ended in sixth place in 16.75 seconds in the 110.
The Lady Trojans kept it going in the field events as Brooke Boehm won the long jump with 5.18 meters and took third in the high jump, clearing 1.57 meters. Mandia Bock’s 34.56-meter javelin throw gave her second place whereas Grace Hodge and Emily Ayala-Pagan ended in second and fifth places in the pole vault, respectively.
Mackenzie Moretina kicked off her senior campaign with a first-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.72 seconds. Tessa Walker ended in fifth place in the 300-meter with a time of 53.96 seconds.
Platte County’s Ava Filger and Adi Benninghoff were the first two finishers after Moretina, both having sub-17 seconds. Filger won the 300-meter hurdles in 48.74 seconds.
Payton Stadel and Karlee Riggs tied in second place in the triple jump as the Lady Pirate duo leaped 9.8 meters. Adilynn Kern took fourth place with a 2.43-meter pole vault and Kelly Bulano earned fourth place with a 9.67-meter shot put.
Park Hill senior Natalie Gerdes was the second runner to cross the finish line in the mile, doing so in 5:36.3. Park Hill South’s Brooklynn Verdi took fourth place in the 300-meter hurdles in 53.9 seconds.
The Lady Panthers had a pair of first place finishes in field events. Audrey Steitz won the triple jump, leaping 9.93 meters, and Aubrie Boehler pole vaulted 2.74 meters.
The first two runners to cross the finish line in the boys’ mile were from Park Hill South. Simon Ketter had a winning time of 4:47.33, which was 1.24 seconds ahead of Benedict Yager.
Marcel Milner triple jumped13.18 meters to win the event, also taking fourth place in the long jump with a leap of 5.97 meters. Zeshaun Balance-Gray long jumped 5.91 meters, earning sixth place.
Carter Zehr took fifth place in the javelin and Kiros Martin took sixth place in the discus as Zehr had a 43.26 throw and Martin had a 43.89-meter throw. Park Hill sophomore Jonah Were finished in fifth place in the shot put with a 14.13-meter throw.
For Platte County, Kevin Taylor led the way in the field events with a 3.66-meter pole vault, worthy of second place. Gage Fulk’s 45.46-meter discus was good enough for fifth place.