Platte County went into last season with serious to questions after losing key pieces from the best team in school history. After turning in emphatically successful followup as a response, the Pirates can now push to show top-end performances at the state meet have become the expectation and not anomalous.
Over the past two seasons, Platte County went from an inspired runnerup showing in the Class 4 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships with the fastest collection of runners in program history to fifth a year ago and just off of a second straight state trophy. The Pirates nearly returned to the team podium after Tanner Jenks and Blake Herron repeated as all-state performers.
While Jenks graduated and plans to continue his career at Rogers State, Herron returns for his senior season already one of the most accomplished runners in Platte County’s history along with seniors Elijah Jackson and Donavin Ness, juniors Nick Flowers and Jacoby Keith and sophomores Landon McKinzie and Tate Stone. That gives the Pirates seven solid contributors from a year ago — five of whom ran in the postseason.
In a short but successful tenure as head coach, Courtland Ingram continues to build the program’s identity on a sense of collective belonging and familial atmosphere rather than well-defined measures of on-course success.
“I think this will be an outstanding group of kids that impact the school in a positive way,” he said of this year’s teams. “I am extremely fortunate to have their support as a coach as well as their families. I feel the impact these kids leave on my own life has helped me be better in every aspect of my life and I could not be more grateful for that.”
A three-time state qualifier, Jenks placed 22nd in the Class 4 race as a junior and then came in eighth to cap off an accomplished senior season that saw him go under 16 minutes in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships to set a notable PR.
Platte County’s fifth-place state team also included Ethan Smith, an ascendant senior who ended up as a top-five performer on the roster nearly the entire season. He placed 117th in Class 4 to conclude his career but did not factor into the Pirates’ team score of 169 — 40 behind Parkway Central for the fourth-place spot in the standings.
Jenks (eighth), Herron (ninth), Ness (40th), Jackson (68th) and McKinzie (75th) were Platte County’s top-five runners at state and helped answer any doubts after losing two runners from the 2024 Class 4 runnerup squad, which included school-record holder Andrew Johnson. The Pirates would be solidly in position to make a push for another state trophy, but the task could look drastically different if the Pirates move up to Class 5 this season when MSHSAA postseason assignments are announced in September.
However, Platte County certainly brings back a roster accustomed to success and a chance to compete at any level. Already three-time qualifiers, Herron and Ness brings back the most experience. Herron seemingly followed an identical path of progression with Jenks over the past two seasons with the duo placing 22nd and 23rd to make all-state in 2024 and help drive the Pirates’ somewhat unexpected team showing before repeating their tight finish a year ago.
Herron comes back with a PR of 15 minutes, 58.49 seconds from a faster state race in 2023 before muddy conditions hampered competitors last year — one of just five in Platte County history to go sub-16. He also posted a mark of 15:42.85 in a non-affiliated race this past winter during the offseason.
Ness came in as in impact freshman and placed 105th at state in 2022 — six spots ahead of Herron in their first postseason — and has since improved to 84th and 40th in the past two trips for Platte County. The Pirates filled out the lineup with a second-year contributor in Jackson while McKinzie showed quick progression and Keith made the postseason roster with both Stone and Flowers pushing for the limited spots.
Prior to state, Platte County reclaimed the conference title from Grain Valley in a chaotic and confusing scenario. Jackson, who emerged as a key member of the 2023 state team as a first-year contributor, lost his electronic timing chip during the race, and video evidence helped change the final placements and the team standings. The Eagles originally repeated as White Division champions on a sixth-runner tiebreaker only for the official results to change.
In the end, Herron, Ness, McKinzie and Jackson were four of Platte County’s six all-conference performers. Herron and Ness have placed top-15 in the White Division race each of the past three years. The Pirates then made a switch for the postseason after Ben Letcher continued to suffer health issues and didn’t finish the conference race after being a two-time state qualifier for the Pirates.
Keith won the junior varsity White Division race and earned the final spot in the seven-runner lineup for Class 4 District 4 with Platte County just missing a fifth straight team title but earning a team berth to state with a runnerup showing. The Pirates came in just four points back of Lincoln Prep but were better than the Blue Tigers a week later at state.
Jenks and Herron were both top 10 in a strong district field with Ness 11th and Smith and McKinzie rounding out the team score placing in the top 25.
Jackson turned in a strong and important state showing to help Platte County take the fifth spot and followed that with a strong track and field season this past spring. While the Pirates have a strong and experienced contingent, junior Jackson Townsend likely also competes for a chance to contribute as a transfer from Glendale. He turned in a PR of 18:11.91 last year in the Class 5 District 2 race, improving nearly 2 minutes from the fastest mark he posted as a freshman.
