Variable weather conditions early in the season have led to mixed results so far for Adi Benninghoff in her best race.
On Friday, the Platte County junior raced to a victory in the 100-meter hurdles at the Kearney Classic Invitational while finishing in front of a notable rival. Benninghoff posted a season-best of 15.73 at Kearney High School and beat Smithville senior Julia Fisher to the line by 0.2 of a second.
Benninghoff came up just shy of the 15.35 PR she set at the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships preliminaries in her state debut last season as a sophomore.
Platte County’s lone individual victory helped the Pirates earn the team title with 108 1/2 points in a tightly packed top tier of the team standings. There were only 4 1/2 points between the winner and fourth-place Park Hill South (104). Kearney came in second at 106 with Liberty North third at 105.
In addition, all four of Platte County’s relays posted season-best times, most notably the 4×200 in a winning effort. The Pirates were first in 1:47.67 — just 0.2 of a second in front of Park Hill South — with the team of sophomores Maggie Wagner, Adi Kern and Vanessa Sarpong plus freshman Addison Stone, who also placed third in the 200. She crossed the finish line in a virtual tie for that spot with Ruskin senior Rahkia Moore at 26.78, but the photo finish gave Stone the better placement by 0.002 of a second.
Stone set a PR in just her second career start in the open 200, while splitting her spring between soccer and track.
Platte County’s 4×800 team of seniors Alexia Myer and Maddie Nichols and juniors Addie Ayers and Emily Huehl finished second to Kearney. The Pirates’ new season-best of 10:14.28 came with Nichols and Huehl looking to help rebuild a unit that set a school record while medalling at state last season.
Ayers helped Platte County qualify for the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships in the event each of the past two years, while Myer earned a spot last season after moving into the school district. Nichols and Huehl are both transfers in their first year with the Pirates. Huehl earned Kansas Class 1A all-state honors in the 800 as a sophomore at Wakefield.
In addition to the 4×800, Platte County junior Maddie Stewart posted a third-place finish in the 1,600 at 5:41.06, setting a PR and knocking 13 seconds off of her previous best time from her sophomore season.
Platte County also collected three top-three finishes in field events. Adi Kern, a sophomore, cleared a career-best 2.90 meters in the pole vault to finish in a three0way tie for first. She ended up second on tiebreakers with the new PR after she went 2.75 meters once and 2.74 meters twice in a freshman season that concluded with a Class 5 Sectional 4 berth.
In the javelin, Platte County sophomore Kelly Bullano posted a season-best of 39.18 seconds and also finished as a runnerup with a distance still about 2 meters off the school record she set while earning a state medal as a breakout freshman. Addy Schlake, a senior, placed third in the shot put at 10.51 meters.
Platte County returned to Kearney on Monday for the Kearney Throwers Meet with Schlake finishing second in the discus (35.69 meters) and third in the shot put (10.06 meters). She qualified for state in the discus each of the past two seasons and owns the school record at 41.57 meters.
Bullano came in third in the javelin at 35.69.
