Gutshall, Keith find enjoyment in rare opportunities afforded on senior night

Deacon Gutshall and Palmer Keith chose to compete on senior night in a manner fitting their personalities.

In the innocuous setting of a dual with Savannah on Monday afternoon, Gutshall stayed stoic and rolled to victories in the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, while Palmer shrewdly and intentionally took advantage of a somewhat-obscure allowance in his two events. Technically, “freestyle” allows the swimmer to pick any stroke, so he ended up swimming a 50-yard breaststroke and 100-yard individual medley, neither of which are standard events at the high school level.

The two seniors have only a few weeks left in two of the most accomplished careers in Platte County’s history, and the break in competitiveness provided a needed break before writing the final chapters during the upcoming Suburban Conference White Division Championships and Class 1 MSHSAA Swimming Championships.

“It felt really surreal that this is coming to an end,” Keith said after the Pirates outpointed Savannah 560-459 at Platte County Community Center North. “It feels like just a couple months ago I was starting as a freshman and now it’s two meets away from being over.”

“I’m just incredibly grateful for everyone that was not just here tonight but everyone who supported me throughout this four-year journey,” Gutshall added. “It’s been a long, twisted, windy road, but at the end, I’m really excited with how everything is shaping up and turning out.”

Platte County honored Gutshall, Keith and fellow seniors Cobie Parkin, Zach Linville and Dylan Smith during the dual. A year earlier, the Pirates didn’t have any seniors on the roster and therefore no senior night.

In many ways, Keith and Gutshall have served as senior-like leaders for much of their careers. They combine to own seven individual school records, while also being part of Platte County’s fastest 400 freestyle relay in 2022.

“I think we both knew that we had a lot of experience that maybe other people on the team hadn’t,” Gutshall said. “And so I think we always knew we had an opportunity to do something special, and I’m just really happy that both of us have put in the work and have been able to capitalize on it. I know Palmer’s done a really good job leading this program from the get-go, from his freshman year, and really doing a good job of promoting him and dragging me along with him, and now I’m just really happy we are where we are.”

“The roles have kind of reversed,” Keith quickly added. “The man’s got a lot of best times in that 500. It’s been shocking to see. He grew really fast and got so much faster so quick. I was happy, shocked and a little nervous.”

Indeed, Gutshall has posted new Platte County school records in the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly this season while also bettering the 500 and 200 freestyle marks he already owned. Keith continues to hold the Pirates’ fastest times in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.

The 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke are the only individual events left without one of their names atop the Platte County record book, and those might very well survive with their focus now shifting to focusing in on all-state aspirations.

That’s what made a dual such an opportune time switch up from the routine.

Gutshall and Keith actually faced off in the 100 freestyle — in a sense. Gutshall comfortably in first at 50.55 seconds with Keith actually the runnerup despite swimming 25 yards each in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. He posted a time of 59.00 seconds.

At that point, Keith already finished third in the 50 freestyle but posted a 29.41 while using the breaststroke, coming in behind Platte County sophomore Nathan Guzman (27.61) and junior Landon Steffel (27.63) — both swimming the traditional crawl.

“I was really inspired by other seniors that I’ve seen do random stuff for fun,” Keith said. “I was like, you know what, let’s just throw some fun stuff out there, and if I do bad, it doesn’t really matter. It’s senior night, and this is the last home dual meet I’ll ever have.”

Gutshall likely swam the 100 backstroke for the final time in his high school career in a busy finish to his meet. He finished first in 57.24 but without strong competition did not approach the coveted school record Alex Beall set in 2018 (53.87). He won the race by nearly 6 full seconds.

Both even took a moment to cut loose after ceremonial honors for the seniors when all five took the opportunity for the traditional splash into the pool. While indications were everyone planned to synchronically belly flop, Gutshall did a gainer, and Keith missed the starting cue and ended up a bit late to enter the water.

Gutshall actually asked to be the lone competitor in 1-meter diving, but not all requests were granted in an attempt to keep some sense of decorum.

“Some off events tonight for sure, but still, just the people who were here tonight, I just wanted to do my best kind of as a thank you,” Gutshall said. “Having them watch me do what I do is a gift that not a lot of people get, and a gift that I won’t have for much longer.”

In addition to their individual wins, Gutshall and Keith were also on Platte County first-place 200 medley relay (1:46.04) with Parkin and junior Jack Hokanson, while Keith teamed with Parkin, Hokanson and freshman Beau Jonkman to win the 200 freestyle relay (1:39.70). Gutshall, Jonkman, Guzman and Steffel lost a photo finish to Savannah in the 400 freestyle relay. The Savages were second in 3:49.88 — just .02 of a second off the winning time.

Hokanson, the third member of the Platte County roster with prior individual experience at state, won the 500 freestyle (5:33.36) in front of Guzman (6:16.60), while also taking the 100 breaststroke (1:12.51) with Pirates junior Finn Smith second (1:18.74).

Parkin placed third in the 100 breaststroke and second in the 100 butterfly on his senior night, while Linville swam on a pair of Platte County’s B relays and finished third in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 100 freestyle on his. Dylan Smith did not compete.

Platte County returns to action in this week’s conference meet and likely doesn’t have the depth to take back the White Division title, especially in an expanded field that added Fort Osage, Ruskin and Truman. The Pirates will send all three relays to state, while Gutshall, Keith and Hokanson should all have two individual events apiece.

Platte County triangular

In another small meet with Smithville and Pembroke Hill, Platte County won all but one event on Tuesday, October 15 at Platte County Community Center North. Jonkman (50 freestyle and 100 backstroke), Hokanson (200 freestyle) and Steffel (100 freestyle) combined for four individual first-place finishes, while Gutshall and Keith also won a pair each for the Pirates in a dominant showing.

Jonkman (25.58) finished in front of Steffel (26.67) in the 50 freestyle as part of Platte County’s top-three sweep that also included Guzman. Jonkman’s other win came in the 100 backstroke (1:06.93).

Steffel came right back from the runnerup showing to finish first in the 100 freestyle (58.52) with Guzman second at 59.26).

Hokanson (2:02.38 in the 200) and Gutshall (4:49.30 in the 500) gave Platte County overwhelming margins of victory in a sweep of freestyle events. Gutshall also turned in a rare appearance in the 200 IM (2:04.77) to post a state qualification cut in the event, giving him a Class 1 mark in every individual event except the 100 breaststroke although he must narrow that to two for state, likely the 200 and 500 freestyle.

Keith claims the 100 breaststroke (1:05.67) and 100 butterfly (58.30).

Platte County also won the 200 medley relay in an incredibly tight finish with Smithville. The Pirates’ quartet of Jonkman, Parkin, Keith and Gutshall finished in 1:53.75 with Smithville just behind in 1:53.78.

In the 200 freestyle relay, Keith, Guzman, Steffel and Hokanson were first in 1:46.05, and the 400 freestyle relay ended up the only event Platte County didn’t win after a DQ.