Goodale’s return further strengthens 4×400 unit set for another postseason push

Platte County coaches ended up with a difficult but enviable decision going into the Class 5 District 8 meet. The Pirates were going to put a lot of resources into fully stocking the 4×400-meter relay team but with unique circumstances.

In the end, Platte County sophomore Jackson Goodale showed enough in his limited races after coming back from an abductor muscle injury and earned his way back into the lineup. He made his only event count in Saturday’s conclusion with the Pirates claiming a district title and coming up just short of a school record.

Platte County juniors Brayden Eschliman and Josh Fraker put the Pirates into the lead on the first two legs, and Goodale took the baton with a slim advantage on Oak Park for the third lap. Goodale pulled away as a the Northmen’s third runner pulled up lame with an apparent hamstring injury, and the Pirates went on to finish in 3 minutes, 21.76 seconds with senior anchor Connor Currence bringing the baton across the line without a serious challenge from runnerup and defending state champion Liberty North (3:24.21).

Eschliman, Fraker and Goodale were on last year’s 4×400 team that set Platte County’s school record at 3:21.62 in the Class 5 Sectional 4 meet before failing to qualify for the finals at state. Goodale ran anchor last spring in a breakout freshman season, but he did not make his debut as a sophomore until the recent Suburban Conference White Division Championships due to the lingering leg injury.

Platte County showed potential to challenge the school record all year, generally with freshman Jack Johnson in the lineup. However, the coaches put trust in Goodale, who ran a 49-second split in just his third competitive 400 — two relay legs and the open 400 at conference — and allowed Johnson to focus on his individual hurdle races.

The lineup now appears set, barring any setbacks.

Platte County returned the three pieces from last year’s state-qualifying unit and added back in Currence, who missed the majority of his junior season due to a stress fracture in his foot. That offset the graduation of Aaron Cordova, a first-year senior in 2023 who helped complete the breakout relay team that peaked in the postseason.

With three relays and four individuals in five events qualifying for this week’s Class 5 Sectional 4 meet, Platte County finished a solid third place in the final team standings. Liberty North (140 1/2) and Liberty (127 1/2) easily earned the top two spots, while the Pirates scored 85 and held off Staley and Park Hill, which finished tied for fourth at 80.

Platte County needed up with two relays challenging school-record marks. The 4×800 of senior Kade Meinke, Currence, Fraker and sophomore Blake Herron opened the track events in the morning with a dramatic finish to edge Liberty. Currence anchored the Pirates across the line in a season-best 7:53.41 — just off the 2018 Class 4 state-medal winning school record effort of 7:50.03.

This marked the second-fastest time in program history and improved the prior season-best of 8:03.03 from Jefferson City’s Licklider Invitational by nearly 10 full seconds.

Platte County put up the time with senior long-distance star Andrew Johnson not in the lineup. The Pirates were a virtual lock to advance in the 4×800, so he put the focus on two individual races.

However, Platte County not only advanced but took the district title with Liberty second in 7:53.42 — just .01 of second behind. This started a theme of uncharacteristically dramatic and consequential tight finishes in long-distance races involving the Pirates.

Andrew Johnson ended up in a tight one-on-one race in the 1,600 but eventually bettered his own school record, finishing first in 4:15.50. He previously set the mark at 4:19.26 but dropped nearly 4 seconds to beat Liberty North senior Kaden Kleinhen (4:15.81) by just more than a quarter of a second.

In the 3,200, Andrew Johnson bided time and didn’t lead until the last of eight laps, finishing in 9:21.82 with Liberty senior Peyton Willbanks second in 9:25.53. Andrew Johnson ended up with the two district titles, but Meinke just missed a top-four spot and a sectional berth in the 3,200. He set a personal best of 9:29.85 but finished fifth — exactly one second behind Liberty’s Todd Yeates.

Currence turned in his solid 4×400 anchor leg just a short time after experiencing disappointment in his only individual race.

With a bunched pack of 19 runners in a competitive 800 field, Currence found himself in fourth place along the backstretch of the second of two laps but couldn’t hold off Liberty junior Connor Nicholson in what ended up a photo finish. Officials huddled around a monitor at the finish line and determined Nichols came in at 1:57.87 with Currence fifth at 1:57.88.

Currence now advances to sectionals in two relays but not the 800 after setting the school record in the event at conference (1:55.59).

Platte County’s third sectional-qualifying relay ended up being the 4×100 team of sophomores Adam Gisler, Braiden Stevens, Ty Christopher and Adeboye Akande. The Pirates finished fourth in a season-best 43.06. Christopher’s anchor leg required him to hold off Liberty North, which ended up fifth at 43.19.

The school record for Platte County came at state in 2022 with a medal-winning time of 42.84 seconds, and the Pirates have only gone sub-43 seconds four times in program history — all during the past two seasons.

A similar effort will likely be needed to finish top four this weekend in the Class 5 Sectional 4 meet at William Chrisman High School and earn a trip to state.

Stevens faces a similar scenario in the 100 after placing fourth (11.08). He set a season-best of 10.89 with a strong tail wind at conference, and that time earned him an inside lane allowing him to finish comfortably in the top four but well behind Staley junior Robert Collins, Jr. (10.61) and Liberty senior Dominic Revels (10.66) in the top two spots.

Jack Johnson also extended his outstanding debut freshman season in the 300 hurdles in addition to continuing on as a 4×400 alternate for Platte County. After finishing seventh in the 110 hurdles, he came back to post a season-best of 41.16, having now gone sub-42 in each of his past two races (41.17 at conference).

Platte County only advanced one field event to sectionals with senior Kevin Taylor winning out on a tiebreaker for fourth in the pole vault to edge Park Hill South senior Roman Lewis for the final spot. They both cleared 3.80 meters — just off Taylor’s career-best of 3.97 meters from late last month.

Prior to this season, Taylor had not cleared higher than 3.40 meters in his career but has gone over 3.51 meters in all but one meet this season.