Platte County freshman Mary Dellinger made a big move up leaderboard in her third career race, but the Pirates continue to look for more high-end consistency from an extremely young lineup.
Platte County freshman Carlie Baker runs in the Raymore-Peculiar Invitational on Saturday at Raymore-Peculiar High School in Peculiar.
On Saturday in the Raymore-Peculiar Invitational, Platte County finished sixth out of just 11 teams at Raymore-Peculiar High School in Peculiar with a total of 132 points, just seven out of the top five and 30 back of runnerup Staley. Blue Springs ran away with the title at 63.
Platte County sophomore Tyler Stambersky (sixth; 20 minutes, 50.10 seconds) and Dellinger (eighth, 21 minutes, 03.30 seconds) both earned medals, but the Pirates’ other five runners were bunched for a second straight race — all coming in between 30th and 38th and separated by less than 48 seconds. A week earlier, the six entrants behind Stambersky were between 29th and 44th at the Pella Invitational in Iowa.
Dellinger didn’t factor in the Pella team score but improved her time by more than a minute from the previous Saturday (22:07.70) and ended up just off the career-best she set in the season-opening Tim Nixon Invitational.
Platte County senior Maddie Stewart (30th, 22:29.30), freshman Carlie Baker (33rd, 22:35.80) and sophomore Madison Fuller (35th, 22:47.20) rounded out the scoring finishes. The Pirates’ sixth and seventh entrants weren’t far behind with senior Indigo Teufel 36th (22:48.50) and sophomore Arsema Ayiche 38th (22:51.50).
Stambersky, Stewart and Ayiche all ran at state last year for Platte County, which has qualified a team for the Class 4 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships each of the past five seasons. The Pirates have five total runners back with postseason experience but have seen underclassmen step up to fill big roles so far this season.
There were no PRs for Platte County on Saturday, mostly due to the fast track in Liberty for the Tim Nixon Invitational in late August. The Pirates next take the course at home Thursday for the Judge “Chris” Stubbs Invitational at Platte Ridge Park. Last season, excessive heat forced the cancelation of the event, but the school moved the start times to the morning in an effort to avoid any weather concerns.
