Platte County incredibly didn’t have any finalists and therefore no team points in the COMO Invitational this past weekend, but the Pirates still posted a slew of new and updated Class 1 MSHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships qualifying marks to truly show the high level of competition at Mizzou Aquatic Center.
Most notably, all three of Platte County’s relays posted season-best times and consideration cuts. The Pirates’ 400-yard freestyle relay team of juniors Mackenzie Johnson, Ronnie Benford and Alex Yurko plus standout freshman Remi Woolard finished 26th in preliminaries and moved up to No. 15 in Class 1 with a mark of 4 minutes, 3.50 seconds. The 200 medley relay combination of senior Ashleigh Cruce, junior Lillian Talbot, Johnson and Benford were also 26th with a 2:02.57 now ranking No. 17 in Class 1.
Johnson’s strong opening leg in the 400 freestyle relay gave her a state mark in the open 100 at 59.55, and she also posted new qualifying marks in the 200 IM (2:23.44) and 500 freestyle (5:45.71). Both times put her 23rd in Class 1.
Woolard’s individual races resulted in career-bests for the 200 freestyle (2:10.50) and 100 freestyle (1:00.02), putting her on the outside looking in for a state spots in those events. The top 32 qualify for preliminaries, but each swimmer can have a maximum of two individual events. Inevitably, many outside of the current cut line end up making the field.
Johnson, Woolard and Benford all look to qualify for state in an individual event for the first time. Benford took a big step in that direction with a 1:16.27 in the 100 breaststroke, now 27th in Class 1.
The only swimmer with prior state experience in an individual race, Cruce posted her season-best in the 100 breaststroke, as well. She sits in 25th with a 1:16.16.
Cruce also posted Platte County’s best individual showing at COMO, finishing 25th in the 100 butterfly at 1:04.89 — off her season-best of 1:03.71 from early December.
Talbot’s development as a sprint freestyle specialist also continues to benefit Platte County. She teamed with Cruce, Yurko and Woolard in the 200 freestyle relay, which finished in 1:53.90 for another season-best.
Platte County Meet
With six teams at Platte County Community Center North on Tuesday, Platte County won nine of 12 events overall. That included a sweep of the top two spots in 1-meter diving with junior Thais Thompson finishing first in an encouraging showing that could eventually benefit the Pirates in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships later this season.
The lone current state qualifying mark from the meet came from Johnson in the 100 butterfly (1:07.17). She finished first in that event in addition to the 100 backstroke (1:09.04).
Cruce (100 freestyle, 1:03.38), Yurko (200 freestyle, 2:25.17) and senior Erin Anderson (500 freestyle, 6:31.91) were also event winners for Platte County in the final warmup before COMO. The Pirates also swept the three relays — 200 medley (2:10.38; Benford, Cruce, Johnson and Thompson), 200 freestyle (2:02.40; Anderson, Yurko, sophomore Penelope Thompson and freshman Sara Lanier) and 400 freestyle relay (4:23.69; Cruce, Benford, Johnson and Woolard).
