After graduating two mainstays, outward appearances have Platte County needing to retool after some nearly historic postseason results for the program a season ago. However, a quirk in scheduling a year ago provided potentially beneficial opportunities.
Platte County senior Braden Hendee and junior Brayden Renno both return as two-time state qualifiers, while sophomores Kaplan Curtis and Jack Dillingham both have notable experience. Hendee, Renno and Curtis all contributed to a fifth-place finish for the Pirates in last season’s Class 4 MSHSAA Golf Championships.
Despite taking a unique route, Platte County qualified a team to state for the first time in 24 years and now plenty of optimism exists for the returners to build on the notable accomplishment.
“The team has very high expectations this season,” Platte County coach Trevor Short said. “We ended the season on a high note last year and put even more work into this upcoming season. We are excited to compete against other teams and see where we stand in the KC metro. We have a good opportunity to do great things and hope to capitalize on that throughout the season.”
Platte County loses both Josh Knickman and Joshua Gentilia, who helped keep the Pirates in the chase for the four team state trophies last season. Knickman spent three seasons in the lineups top two, while Gentilia contributed most of his junior and senior campaigns in addition to appearances on varsity as a sophomore.
Hendee (tied for 26th), Renno (tied for 41st) and Curtis (tied for 41st) all factored in Platte County’s team score of 650 at state last season — just 21 shots back of fourth-place Helias and one clear of both Ladue Horton Watkins and West Plains.
However, Dillingham played in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships to help Platte County finish second to Grain Valley before a scheduling conflict left him out of the postseason lineup. Curtis played alongside the two seniors, Hendee and Renno at the Class 4 District 4 tournament with the Pirates finishing in a tie for third.
However, all five players made the individual state cut and earned the team berth.
Platte County went on to post the best finish for the three qualifiers out of District 4. In fact, the Pirates were just four shots back of Helias after the first of two rounds before fading back into the fight for fifth.
Prior to last season, Platte County’s only state trophy came from a fourth-place finish in Class 3A back in 2001 — the last time the program sent a full team — when Barrett Martens won the individual title. Martens (2000, 2001, 2002) and Jeremy Glasbrenner (1999) remain the only all-state players, honors for the top 15 plus ties in each class, in program history for now.
Platte County ended up reassigned to Class 4 District 4 and opens up the possibility to add more superlatives with the current group.
“We have an opportunity to do something special this year,” Short said. “We have lots of experienced players and players that have played in high-level tournaments. These are the type of players that help build high quality teams. We are lucky to have many of these types of players and the drive that they have to play well and succeed at golf. We look forward to seeing how we compare to other teams and competitions.”
Platte County did not shift up to Class 5, which would have changed the conversation on postseason expectations. In addition to the four returners, the Pirates also bring back juniors Asher Hitzelberger and Braylon Gates plus sophomores Nicholas Cangelosi, Bryson Hevalow and Reid Fraccascia to compete for playing time.
However, Hendee and Renno provide the needed stability at the top of the lineup.
Playing at No. 1 all of last season and the majority of his sophomore campaign, Hendee found himself in an all-state position after the first round last spring in Bolivar when he shot a career-best 2-over 74 after recording three birdies in a span of five holes on the front nine. He sat tied for seventh at that point but finished 74-84—158, three shots off the all-state cutline of 11-over.
Still, Hendee moved up from tied for 65th in his state debut as a sophomore.
Renno also made big strides in his second state tournament. He placed 89th to conclude a breakout freshman season but posted a two-day total of 81-83—164 with one birdie in the first round and 21 pars total.
Curtis posted Platte County’s No. 3 score at state in just his second varsity tournament of the season. He put up a birdie to close out a 13-over 85 in the first round and then recovered from a slow start on Day 2 to finish with a 79 and match Renno’s total.
Dillingham seemingly won out the fifth spot in the lineup but ended up with a conflicting national robotics event on the day of the Class 4 District 4 tournament. Hendee (tied for seventh), Renno (tied for ninth) and Curtis (tied for 15th) were the Pirates top players with Gentilia and Knickman both one shot under the cut line of 85 to help earn the unconventional team berth.
Platte County finished second in conference for the third straight season — all since moving up from the Blue Division. Renno tied for the White Division individual championship with Hendee one shot back in a tie for third, while Dillingham also earned honorable mention all-conference honors in what ended up his final start of the season.
Hevalow and Cangelosi also played in the varsity lineup at least once last season for Platte County.
