Still seeking to close a gap, Palmer Keith turned in a sought-after performance to not only record an important victory but take down another school record.
Platte County junior Deacon Gutshall swims the freestyle during the Suburban Conference White Division Championships on Saturday at Belton High School.
The Platte County junior standout dominated the 100-yard breaststroke, becoming the first in program history to break the 1-minute mark in the event. Palmer won the final individual race in 59.83 seconds — more than 10 seconds in front of the runnerup — and finally eclipsed Caden DeLay’s 2017 program-best of 1:00.13.
Platte County went on to win the 400 freestyle, as well, but came up just short of defending the conference title. Raytown totaled 414 points and just held off the Pirates (400 points) for the conference crown Saturday at Belton High School.
This marked the second time in three years that Platte County came up just short in a tight battle at the top of the conference standings after placing second to Kearney in the Blue Division during the 2021 meet.
Keith and fellow junior Platte County star Deacon Gutshall each won their two individual races, while teaming with junior Cobie Parkin and sophomore Jack Hokanson on the first-place 200 and 400 freestyle relays. The Pirates just didn’t quite have the depth on this year’s senior-less roster to replicate last year’s conference title — the first for the program since 2014.
Platte County sophomore Jack Hokanson swims in the 200-yard individual medley during the Suburban Conference White Division Championships on Saturday at Belton High School.
In addition to the school record swim in the 100 breaststroke, Palmer became a five-time individual conference champion with a victory in the 200 IM (2:01.08). He has won that race all three years — first in the Blue Division and then the White Division the past two seasons — and also owns the school record in that event.
Hokanson placed third in the IM (2:10.58) behind Keith and added a runnerup finish in the 100 butterfly (58.25).
While just missing an individual title, Hokanson added valuable top-eight points by qualifying for the A final in both events and continued his rapid progression for Platte County. Gutshall did win the first two conference championships of his career in sweeping the 200 freestyle (1:46.55) and 500 freestyle (4:46.29). He just missed his season-best and school-records in those races but still ranks top five for Class 1 in both events.
Platte County continued to chase down Raytown in the 200 freestyle with Gutshall, Keith, Hokanson and Parkin (fourth in the 100 freestyle and sixth in the 200 freestyle) holding off Grain Valley for first in the 200 free relay. The Pirates came in at a season-best 1:34.33 to win by just over a second, while Raytown ended up disqualified.
In the final race of the day, Platte County’s top quartet built on the momentum of Keith’s school-record swim in the race right before and finished first in 3:30.62 with Grain Valley again a distant second. Raytown finished fourth out of four but collected the points necessary to finish off the team race.
Platte County junior Cobie Parkin swims the freestyle during the Suburban Conference White Division Championships on Saturday at Belton High School.
Platte County now awaits the official seedings for next weekend’s Class 1 MSHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships scheduled for Rec-Plex in St. Peters. Keith and Gutshall will have their choice of two individual events, and the Pirates have all three relays qualified.
Keith ranks top 15 in the 200 IM (fifth), 100 breaststroke (eighth) and 100 butterfly (13th), while Gutshall sits top five in the long-distance freestyle races (fourth in the 500 and fifth in the 200). Both enter this season with all-state credentials and will be a big part of the 200 and 400 freestyle groups.
While only the top 32 in each race make state, the qualification procedures open up the possibility for Hokanson to go in an individual event for the first time. He went to a last-chance meet on Wednesday and posted a career-best 56.36 in the 100 butterfly to move up to No. 39 in Class 1.
Hokanson is No. 56 in the 500 freestyle, which generally draws less interest from top-tier competitors when making decisions. Swimmers can compete in a maximum of four events and only two can be individual events, meaning that as others opt for different races that he could move into a top-32 spot.
If Hokanson gets left out, he can swim on all three relays, as can Parkin.
