Bullano sets school record in javelin on more fitting stage, advances to sectionals

Kelly Bullano created a much more fitting platform for her latest school record throw.

Platte County’s noticeably improving freshman finished second in the javelin during Saturday’s Class 5 District 8 meet at Liberty High School, posting a career-best mark of 37.52 meters and bettering the program mark she set earlier this season during a freshman-only competition. Bullano’s runnerup showing extended her season and aided a third-place team finish for the Pirates, who totaled 91 1/2 points behind a trio of Class 5 Sectional 4 qualifiers in field events and senior Sisely Mitchell’s two individual district titles.

Liberty North ran away with the championship at 178 1/2 points, while Liberty came in second at 137.

Prior to Saturday, Bullano twice went over 36 meters and originally set the school record during the Andy Keefer 9th Grade Invitational. The mark of 36.60 meters seeded her third for districts, and she outperformed that and finished behind only Liberty junior Malia Cabuyaban.

Platte County does not have a lengthy history in javelin, which Missouri officially added as a sanctioned event in 2017. Addison Long previously held the school record at 35.56 meters — set at Class 4 Sectional 4 in 2020. The Pirates’ only other state qualifier in the event was Jaycie Stubbs in 2016.

However, Bullano and the other throwers have shown tremendous growth this year under the tutelage of assistant coach Dakota Schmidt, a Division II All-American in the javelin at Northwest Missouri State and a Platte County alum.

In addition to Bullano, Platte County junior Addy Schlake sneaked into the sectional field for discus, while freshman Adi Kern won a tiebreaker for the final spot in pole vault. Mitchell claimed district titles in both the 800-meters and 3,200-meters, while combining with senior Carmen Gentilia, junior Alexia Myer and sophomore Addie Ayers to advance in the 4×800-meter relay. The Pirates have six individuals total competing at Class 5 Sectional 4 this weekend at William Chrisman with Gentilia also moving on in the 1,600 while sophomore Adi Benninghoff claimed a spot in the 100 hurdles with a runnerup finish.

Schlake seeks a second straight berth in the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships. A year earlier, she completed a breakout run through the postseason then showed improvement as a junior, setting the school record earlier this season at 41.57 meters — topping Kylie Guthier’s previous mark that stood for more than a decade.

On Saturday, Schlake fouled on three of four attempts, but her posted mark of 35.73 meters placed her third and safely in the top four spots needed to advance. She also set a career best in the shot put 10.62 meters but came in fifth and missed fourth by just 2 centimeters.

Schlake did not place at state after setting her then-PR at Class 5 Sectional 4 in 2023.

Kern originally thought her season came to an end after clearing 2.74 meters in the pole vault — just a centimeter off of her career best from this year’s Platte County Invitational. She later ended up emotional after finding out she won the tiebreaker for fourth place over Liberty North sophomore Ashlyn Amos.

Mitchell will have the busiest sectional meet after a bounceback individual showing in the postseason.

In the 4×800, Platte County’s senior long-distance star and three-time all-state cross country runner ran the opening leg and put the Pirates into the lead from the outset. Ayers, Myer and Gentilia held and pushed the Pirates across the finish line in a season-best 9 minutes 45.86 seconds — the third-best time in program history and nearly 4 full seconds faster than the prior season-best of 9:49.78.

Mitchell now looks to become a four-time state qualifier, having gone as part of the 4×4800 as a freshman and junior in addition to berths in the 1,600 and 3,200 as a sophomore. Last season, she didn’t make the top four at sectionals in an individual event but claimed district titles in both the 800 and 3,200 on Saturday.

Having set the school record in the 800 just over a week earlier, Mitchell bypassed the 1,600 and created a crowded late schedule. She won the 800 in 2:18.56 with a nearly 3-second margin of victory over Liberty junior Ella Brown.

The school record sits at 2:16.18, a mark Mitchell set in the previous week’s Suburban Conference White Division Championships to topple Elizabeth Robbins’ state title winning effort of 2:17.13 from 2000.

After winning the 800 on Saturday, Mitchell faced a short turnaround before the 3,200, but she ran a patient race that included a front pack of seven runners much of the way before reducing to five and then four. She took the lead late and finished first in 11:32.96 with Liberty North’s Marissa Roberts second (11:35.45).

Gentilia ended up sixth in the 800 but had already qualified for sectionals with a fourth-place finish in the 1,600, posting a career-best 5:18.86 in the process.

Last year, Gentilia dramatically anchored Platte County’s 4×800 to state, and Mitchell and Ayers both return from that unit, while Myer displaced junior Madison Palmer, who will serve as an alternate in what ended up a strong competition for the four legs. Mitchell was looking to qualify in four events and Gentilia three, but a false start in the 4×400 eliminated the Pirates from contention. They were set to run legs in the final race along with Myer and sophomore Charley Sims.

Just like Kern and Bullano, Benninghoff makes her sectional debut on Saturday after posting the fifth sub-16-second time of her season and career in the 100 hurdles. She finished second in 15.64 behind Park Hill senior Mackenzie Moretina while nearly matching her career-best mark of 15.56 at conference.

Platte County senior Ava Filger set a career-best of 16.48 but finished fifth, the same place she took later in the 300 hurdles (47.99) in what ended up an unfitting end to a strong career.