In the first opportunity to set early season standards, Platte County ended up with a more notable distance than any time on the track. The Pirates’ speedsters were still impressive but not the biggest stars in the Liberty North Time Trials last Friday in Liberty.
Platte County senior Cale Buntz improved his own school record, placing first in the javelin at an impressive 55.14 meters. He finished first overall with a distance that would have placed third at state in Class 5 last spring.
As a junior, Buntz medaled fifth in the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships, a week after setting the previous school record at 52.54 meters. He finished nearly 4 meters clear of second place in last week’s season-opening three-team meet.
There were no relays held, but the returning stars from Platte County’s record-breaking 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400 impressed in individual events. The Pirates took four of the top five spots in the 100 with Braiden Stevens (10.60) and Ty Christopher (10.87) in first and second, while Adeboye Akande tied for third (19.93) and Adam Gisler (11.16) pulled up early and wound up fifth.
The four seniors ran the fast 4×100 in Missouri history last season before finishing second at state. Stevens also won an individual medal in the 100 and set the school record multiple times, going as fast as 10.38.
Gisler likely could have finished in the top three Friday but pulled up early with minor discomfort in his leg.
Stevens (21.56) and Christopher (21.86) also took the top two spots in the 200 with Akande (22.20) in third again. All three were on Platte County’s state medal-winning 4×200 a year ago with fellow senior Jackson Goodale to form a unit that also set a school record.
Times for Stevens and Akande were both PRs for the 200, while Christopher finished just off the mark he set last season at Class 5 Sectional 4 to qualify for state in an individual event in addition to running on three relays.
Goodale won the 400 at 49.81, finishing more than 2 seconds in front of runnerup Kevin Lewczyk — a senior from Liberty North. That marked the second-fastest time in the event for Goodale, who has struggled with injuries each of the past two seasons.
Platte County senior Blake Herron finished second in the 1,600 (4:37.12), while senior Elijah Jackson came in as runner-up in the 800 at 1:59.02 with sophomore Landon McKinzie third (2:05.61) and junior Jackson Townsend fourth (2:06.18). Jackson and Herron are the only two members of the Pirates’ 4×800 back from last year after setting a school record but not advancing to state after finishing sixth in an unfathomably competitive Class 5 Sectional 4 field.
Platte County junior Jaden Mathurin set a PR in the 110 hurdles, placing second in 15.68. He starts as the Pirates’ top short-distance hurdler with junior Jack Johnson currently out due to knee surgery and uncertain to run at any point this season.
In addition to Buntz, Platte County junior Kyler Parker finished second in the shot put at 14.42 and came up just short of the career-best 14.86 he set last season at Class 5 District 8 before placing seventh at sectionals and just missing a state spot.
Platte County senior Drew Tyson tied for first in the high jump at 1.75 meters, his career-best, with junior Ethan Larson tied for third at 1.65 meter. The Pirates ended up with two in the top five of the triple jump — junior Thomas Lawson (third, 11.77 meters) and freshman Emmett Hughes (fourth, 11.54 meters).
On the girls side, both of Platte County’s returning state medalists won individual events — at least for the purpose of these time trials. Adi Benninghoff, a senior, bizarrely finished tied with Liberty North sophomore Ainsley Park in the 100 meters. Both runners crossed in 15.47 with no photo finish used to separate the two.
Benninghoff medaled eighth at state in Class 5 last season.
Kelly Bullano, a junior, didn’t advance out of sectionals last season in the javelin and threw 36.8 meters to lead three Platte County throwers in the top four. However, she continues to chase the school record form that saw her record a mark of 41.55 meters to finish fifth in state as a freshman.
Platte County senior Saige Dickens, who splits time with soccer, placed third at 33.66 meters, while senior Malin Cole came in fourth at 30.45 meters.
Mary Dellinger, a freshman and another soccer player, won the 1,600 at 5:37.49 in the first race of her career, edging Liberty North sophomore Lucinda Wright by exactly a quarter of a second. The Pirates other event victories came from junior Maggie Wagner (4.95 meters, long jump), junior Adi Kern (2.9 meters, pole vault) and sophomore Millie Parker (9.9 meters, shot put).
A sectional qualifier as a freshman in pole vault, Kern matched her career-best height in that event, while Parker set a career-best by almost a full 2/3 of a meter and then PR’d in the discus as well, placing third at 29.02 meters.
Platte County senior Rylee Carr finished third bat 4.72 meters behind Wagner’s winning distance. Wagner also finished second in a small 300 hurdles field at 49.86. Kern’s other placement came in the 200 at 26.66 after running that open event just once last season. The Pirates also had freshman Rylee Dishman finish second in the triple jump at 9.73 meters.
