Competing in perhaps the deepest field of in-state competition available, Platte County senior Brooklynn Hays reached the consolation finals in two events Saturday, January 20 in the COMO Invitational at Mizzou Aquatic Center. Her placements took a step back from her Friday preliminaries showings but still highlighted the Pirates’ final — and extremely difficult — tuneup for the stretch run.
Hays placed 14th in the 100-yard freestyle and 16th in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Platte County placed 35th out of 55 teams with four points from Hays. There were 20 teams that didn’t have a top-16 relay or individual swimmer in the two-day meet.
Hays excelled in Friday’s 100 freestyle preliminary, qualifying 11th in 55.26 seconds before going 55.98 in the finals. She went 1:09.59 in the 100 breaststroke on Friday to claim the No. 14 spot for the final and then dropped to 1:10.51.
The majority of finalists in both events came from Class 2 swimmers, while Hays owns top-10 Class 1 MSHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships qualifying consideration times in each.
Platte County’s other standout performances included freshman Mackenzie Johnson hitting her first individual qualifying standard in the 200 freestyle with a career-best 2:13.89 in Friday’s preliminaries. Ashleigh Cruce, a continually developing second-year contributor, also improved her mark in the 100 butterfly to 1:04.49, bettering her previous fastest time by of 1:06.82 by more than 2 seconds in the process.
Currently, the top 32 in each event qualify for state with swimmers limited to two individual events and two relays or three relays if only qualified in one event, meaning those without a top-32 time could still end up making the field. The top eight times in preliminaries advance to the all-state championship final while the next eight go to the honorable mention consolation final.
Currently, Hays will have her choice of events, while Cruce moved to No. 33 in Class 1 for the 100 butterfly and could qualify as an individual for the first time.
In addition, Platte County’s three relays all set season-bests with first-year coach Britton Johnson perhaps giving a hint at which teams will have Hays and which will have a shot to qualify for the state finals. The Pirates now rank No. 16 in the 200 medley after the team of Hays, Cruce and juniors Jayden Benninghoff and Chloe Pegler went 1:59.92 in preliminaries to break the 2-minute mark for the first time this season.
The 200 freestyle relay now ranks No. 21 in Class 1, while the 400 freestyle relay sits at No. 26. Platte County utilized Hays, Cruce, Pegler and junior Ireland Shank in the shorter of the two, while Benninghoff, Johnson, Shank and freshman Ronnie Benford were on the other.
After losing a large crop of seniors from last year’s team, Platte County now hits the pivotal point in the season, set to compete in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships this weekend to test the depth of the roster. The Pirates topped a four-team field in 2023 to capture a fifth straight team title, the previous four coming in the Blue Division before moving up a tier for the first time in program history last winter.
Preliminaries were the key to outpointing Grain Valley and Belton in last year’s league meet with Platte County putting at least three swimmers in each of the eight individual event A finals. Hays won both the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke races for two of the Pirates three individual victories.
Platte County also won two relays with Hays factoring in four conference titles, also swimming on the 200 medley and 200 freestyle teams. Shank joined her on the winning 200 medley unit.
Other contributors last season at conference for Platte County included Shank, Cruce and senior Emilee Handke as placers in the 100 butterfly, while Benninghoff was fourth in the 100 backstroke and sixth in the 100 freestyle. The Pirates also filled up the 500 freestyle entrant list with junior Sarah Howe and sophomores Erin Anderson and Adelaide Bonsignore three of the four to finish in the top eight to just one for second-place Grain Valley, which won five individual races.
This year’s conference meet will be in Belton with preliminaries on Friday and finals scheduled for Saturday.
