Addy and Adi: Platte County sends pair of medal hopefuls to state

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. — Adi Benninghoff continues to chip away and go faster and faster in the 100-meter hurdles. She reached a new low — in a good way — during Saturday’s Class 5 Sectional 4 meet at Blue Springs High School.

Finishing runnerup in a breakaway top two, Platte County’s spindly junior went under 15 seconds for the first time in her career. She posted a time of 14.97, just faster than the PR she set just over a week earlier in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships (15.05).

Benninghoff continues to chase down the oldest track school record still on the books, although modern standards might actually make her faster than Jan Herndon’s mark of 14.93 set in 1983. In the era of fully automated timing (FAT), handheld marks generally require an adjustment of rounding to the nearest tenth of a second and adding 0.24.

No matter. Benninghoff can potentially erase the record the old fashioned way in her second consecutive trip to the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships. A year ago, she sneaked into the state field with a fourth-place finish at sectionals and then just missed a top-eight time in the preliminaries.

Benninghoff continues an impressive trajectory of progression that started as a freshman. She ran 19.17 in a junior varsity meet but broke through with a 16.83 at a freshmen-only meet and moved up from there.

After posting a PR of 16.50 in that first season, Benninghoff lowered that to 15.35 at last year’s state meet and has run faster than that in each of her last four meets. That includes the 14.97 at sectionals that put her behind only Staley senior Katelyn Wink (14.27).

The next goal would be advancing out of preliminaries and becoming a state medalist (top eight in each event).

Platte County senior Addy Schlake also wants to find a way to the podium in discus in a third straight state trip. She came up with a breakthrough performance at sectionals and took home the individual title, going over 40 meters for the first time this season.

The winning mark of 41.18 meters represents Schlake’s best throw since setting a school record of 41.57 in the 2024 Licklider Relays. She threw 39.96 to finish third in last season’s Class 5 Sectional 4 meet but then ended up 11th in prelims at state.

Schlake also went to state as a sophomore but ended up 12th in a format where each thrower gets three opportunities before the top nine individuals go to the finals for three additional attempts. Medals then go to the top eight.

Last year, Willard’s Evangelia Woods finished eighth at state with a throw of 36.51 meters. Schlake went at least 37 meters in each of the last three meets and four times overall this season. Her winning throw Saturday bettered Blue Springs junior Rayana Petty-Calhoun (40.69 meters), Blue Springs senior Ramiyah Petty-Calhoun (39.41 meters) and Liberty senior and District 8 champion Alyssah Price (3.29).

Platte County sends just two to state, and both Benninghoff and Schlake have just one event each.

Schlake finished seventh in the high jump at 1.54 meters after claiming the final sectional spot a week earlier with a career-best of 1.57 meters — good fourth in District 8. This marked her second time advancing this far in the event, first since going as a sophomore, and she would have needed another PR to be in the hunt for a state berth.

Platte County sophomore Kelly Bullano just missed a second straight state berth in javelin, finishing fifth at Sectional 4 with a throw of 36.27 meters. She didn’t recapture last season’s postseason form that saw her set a school record at districts, sectionals and state, culminating with a fifth-place finish in Class 5.

A throw of 41.55 meters put Bullano on last year’s state medal stand, but her season-best of 39.17 came back in April’s Kearney Classic Invitational. She came in second at District 8 at 37.68 meters but lost out on the fight for the final two state spots this year behind Grain Valley sophomore and champion Madison Rust (42.82) and Liberty senior and runnerup Malia Cabuyaban (40.53 meters). Lee’s Summit West junior Mia Blade (36.83 meters) finished third with Grain Valley sophomore Molly Jones in fourth (36.82 meters).

Platte County’s 4×800-meter relay of seniors Alexia Myer and Maddie Nichols plus juniors Addie Ayers and Emily Huehl went into sectionals with a misleading No. 2 seed after placing second in District 8. However, there were only four teams entered in District 7, essentially giving all of them a free advancement and leading to a non-competitive race.

On Saturday, Blue Springs (9:19.64), Liberty (9:19.92), Blue Springs South (9:20.04) and Lee’s Summit West (9:20.26) all ran elite times to claim the state spots.

Platte County came in sixth at 9:59.15 and just off the season-best of 9:56.50 from a week earlier at districts but also well back of fifth-place St. Teresa’s Academy (9:30.07). Ayers and Myer both returned from a 4×800 lineup that placed fifth at state with a school record of 9:27.83. The Pirates rebuilt the unit in a unique way.

Ayers also went to state in the event as a freshman, while Myer made an immediate impact as a junior transfer a year earlier. Nichols and Huehl both brought experience but were in their first years with the Pirates.

Nichols previously ran in Florida, while Huehl earned Kansas Class 1A all-state honors in the 800 meters as a sophomore at Wakefield.