In a meet format that should favor strong relays, Platte County mostly took the opposite approach in winning a share of the team title Friday night. The Pirates bunched individual results in both hurdles races and multiple field events to finish atop the final standings of Staley’s Falcon Relays at North Kansas City District Activities Complex.
Platte County’s only top-three finishes in seven relays were runnerup showings in the traditional 4×800 and non-traditional distance and 800 sprint medleys, but the Pirates still totaled 107 points and tied with Park Hill for first in an eight-team field.
Without senior distance star Sisely Mitchell, Platte County still showed well in the long-distance events. The Pirates again used senior Carmen Gentilia, junior Madison Palmer and sophomore Addie Ayers in the 4×800 to post a season-best of 10 minutes, 3.43 seconds to finish second behind Kearney. Those three plus Mitchell were on last year’s qualifying team for the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships that posted a 9:51.65 in the Class 5 Sectional 4 meet for last spring’s fastest time.
Platte County ended up about 12 seconds off of that with junior Alexia Myer, a first-year transfer, continuing to emerge as a diverse talent in her early performances for the Pirates.
Gentilia, Ayers, Palmer and sophomore Indigo Teufel teamed on the 1,600-400-800-1,200 distance medley, although the legs are not run in that order. Platte County finished second (14:03.68) to Central (St. Joseph), which came in at 13:59.26. The Pirates were second to Oak Park in the 800 sprint medley, which features a 100, two 200s and a 400.
Platte County’s team consisted of Myer, fellow junior Payton Stadel, sophomore Rylee Carr and freshman Maggie Davis. The Pirates finished in 1:59.90 but were more than 4 seconds off of first place.
The key for Platte County ended up being three top-three finishes across two hurdle events and taking three of the top-five places in the triple jump. Ava Filger, a fourth-year standout, posted the lone win out of that group, posting a 48.74 in the 300 hurdles to win by nearly 3 full seconds over Staley’s Destiny Knox.
Filger also came back late of place second in the 100 hurdles at 16.74, while sophomore teammate Adi Benninghoff came in third at 16.92 — a season-best for this year in competitive meets and just off her career-best of 16.49.
Stadel, who has sprinted, hurdled and contributed to relays, continued development in field events, as well. She finished tied for second in the triple jump at 9.80 meters with junior teammate Karlie Riggs, while sophomore Stella Kassen rounded out the top five at 9.64 meters, which marked her personal best. Carr finished fifth in the long jump (4.55 meters), just edging out Riggs for that spot.
Platte County freshmen Adilynn Kern (2.43 meters, pole vault) and Kelly Bullano (9.67 meters, shot put) combined for two fourth-place finishes, as well.
