Strength in sprints, relays not quite enough for Platte County to win district title

LIBERTY, Mo. — Outside of special qualifying circumstances, teams could only take two entries per event to the Class 5 District 8 meet.

Shorthanded in some instances and cautious in others, Platte County didn’t quite have enough to earn the team title Saturday at Liberty North High School. The Pirates finished with 135 points and just behind the host team for first place.

Liberty North claimed the championship with 146 points in what ended up a clear-cut top two teams.

Platte County dominated the sprint events and relays in predictable fashion to even have a chance. Because of qualifying marks, the Pirates even claimed the top three spots in the 100-meter race with the senior trio of Ty Christopher (10.95 seconds), Adam Gisler (10.98 seconds) and Adeboye Akande (11.06 seconds).

The results were despite obvious slips out of the starting blocks for both Christopher and Gisler with times also stunted due to an obvious headwind.

Incredibly, Platte County easily could have put four through to sectionals in the 100 if not for a season-ending foot injury to senior Braiden Stevens, who holds the school record in the event at 10.38. He finished fifth in the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships last season.

However, Christopher now owns a title in the 100 that Stevens didn’t have after coming in behind Staley’s RJ Collins, the eventual state champion, at both District 8 and Sectional 4 last season.

Stevens’ injury also initially changed the outside perspective on Platte County’s 4×100, which posted the fastest time in Missouri history last season before finishing second at state. The Pirates returned all four members of that unit this year but have now installed fellow senior Jackson Goodale in the anchor spot behind Gisler, Christopher and Akande to impressive results.

Platte County won another district title with a mark of 41.07 on Saturday with an impressive margin of victory. The Pirates posted another one of the best times in state history, but Lee’s Summit West went 40.73 in Class 5 District 7 on the same day to take over the top spot.

That sets up a Class 5 Sectional 4 race featuring the three fastest 4×100 teams ever in Missouri. Lee’s Summit — the defending state champions — finished second at Class 5 District 7 to Lee’s Summit West.

Platte County also claimed the top two district places in the 200 with Christopher adding a second individual title with a mark of 21.89, just off of his career-best of 21.77. Akande ended up second at 22.37, beating Staley sophomore Embry Wazac to the line by just .03 of a second.

Due to minor but nagging leg issues, Goodale only ran in two relays despite having one of the top 400 times in the district field. He also didn’t end up in the 4×200 lineup with last year’s state-medal-winning team that also included Akande, Christopher and Stevens dismantled this postseason.

However, Platte County’s team of Akande, junior Zaden Batey and sophomores Bryce Stusse and Cassius Guillory still advanced to this weekend’s Class 5 Sectional 4 meet scheduled for Lee’s Summit North High School. The Pirates were third in 1:29.80 with Akande winning a lean at the line as the anchor over fourth-place North Kansas City (1:29.81).

Batey, Stussey and Guillory will all be first-time sectional qualifiers with Batey also going in the 110 hurdles. He finished fourth to claim the final spot in a career-best 15.31, edging junior teammate Jaden Mathurin (fifth, 15.38).

Platte County also loaded back up the 4×400 with Christopher, senior Elijah Jackson, Guillory and Goodale running in that order. This marked just the second time that combination ran together this season, and the Pirates were easy winners in 3:21.58 but off the season-best of 3:19.40 posted on the same track in April’s Ken Peek Invitational.

Last season, Platte County set a school and state-meet record to win the Class 5 title (3:13.80) with expectations of three legs returning. Instead, junior Jack Johnson underwent season-ending surgery after wrestling season with Jackson and Guillory earning the spots behind Christopher and Goodale, a four-time qualifier in the event.

Christopher went to state for the first time as a junior and medaled in the 4×400 (first), 4×100 (second) and 4×200 (sixth) while not advancing out of preliminaries.

Jackson capped a standout day with the win in the 4×400. He just missed a PR in the 800 but came in fourth as part of a crowded finish behind Park Hill South senior Thomas Garrett, the winner in 1:55.53.

Out of the qualifying spots after the first lap, Jackson ended up needing to catch and pass Staley junior Cameron Meyer, who ended up fifth in 1:57.22, and he came across the line just behind Central (St. Joseph) senior Conner Jones-Taylor (third, 1:56.37) and Liberty North senior Kevin Lewczyk (second, 1:56.25), who went to the outside in a late sprint.

Jackson’s mark of 1:56.50 ranks as another one of the best times in Platte County history and just off of his PR of 1:56.42.

This marks Jackson’s first time going to sectionals in an individual event and the 4×400. However, he also makes a return trip in the 4×800 after Platte County finished third in 8:06.83 in what ultimately ended up an anticlimactic tight finish for the top three teams. The Pirates went with seniors Blake Herron and Jackson plus juniors Jackson Townsend and Nick Flowers as the preferred lineup and ultimately posted a season-best time.

However, there were only five entrants, and one didn’t finish the race. Park Hill South, Liberty North and Platte County’s anchor legs — Jackson for the Pirates — ultimately ended up running close together before a fairly friendly sprint to the finish line. All three were separated by less than a second.

Last season, Herron and Jackson were on Platte County’s 4×800 that set a school record at Class 5 Sectional 4 but almost unbelievably finished sixth in the fastest collective race for that event in state history. A sectional qualifier in the 3,200 as a junior, Herron ended up scratching out of the 1,600 due to a heel injury but hopes to become a first-time state qualifier in his lone race this weekend.

Platte County senior Cale Buntz claimed another district title for the Pirates in the javelin. He posted a throw of 55.12 meters in preliminaries that held up as the winning mark. Liberty North senior Quinn Babbitt ended up second more than 5 meters back of Buntz, who finished fifth at state as a junior and owns the Pirates’ school record at 59.32 — set at the Platte County Invitational.

In addition to Buntz, Platte County freshman Jayden Horn and junior Kyler Parker both advanced to sectionals in shot put. Horn qualifies to continue an ascendent and standout first season, finishing second at 15.25 meters and goes into this weekend with a season-best of 15.58 meters.

Parker goes to sectionals for a second straight season, and he finished third Saturday in 14.36 meters while still chasing his PR of 14.86 meters at districts a year ago.