Tate Stone made the most of Saturday’s state debut.
In the final start of an impressive conclusion to a breakout season, the Platte County junior placed 91st with a personal-best time of 16 minutes, 22.80 seconds in the Class 5 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia. This marked the fifth time he went below 17 minutes — all this season and including each of his past three races.
There were 159 finishers in the Class 5 state race.
Stone eventually led Platte County’s balanced lineup that included seniors Nick Flowers and Jackson Townsend, fellow juniors Evan Backer, Landon McKinzie and Josiah O’Rourke plus sophomore Haddon Newsome in the postseason. Stone earned one of the final state berths out of a highly competitive Class 5 District 4.
Prior to 2026, Stone’s best time sat at 17:17.39. The mark posted Saturday at state bettered his previous PR of 16:30.00 on the same course in September’s Gans Creek Classic.
Despite shaving over 7 seconds off the previous career-best time, Stone still ended well off the top 30 all-state cut, which ended up at 15:30.00. However, the 16:22.80 now ranks as the 38th-fastest in program history, according to available records.
Platte County went into the season with two runners who owned prior state experience in McKinzie and senior Jacoby Keith, who missed the final races this fall due to a foot injury. Both went as part of a Class 4 qualifying team in 2024 before the Pirates moved up to Class 5.
A year ago, Blake Herron qualified, but he graduated as part of a strong senior class. Stone finished 48th in the 2025 Class 5 District 4 race but improved to 21st as a junior.
