Keith continues to rewrite school record book with frequency

Palmer Keith put his name on the school record board in three places very early in his career, and Platte County’s sophomore phenom continues to change the associated times with regularity.

The Pirates’ past three competitions have included the best-ever finish in the Eubank Invitational, a championship in the Platte County Invitational and a successful home quad earlier this week. Palmer highlighted those showings with a school record in the 100-yard butterfly and nearing his current mark in the 200 freestyle.

Platte County Invitational

Keith received a challenge in the final 10 yards but held on for a victory in the 100 butterfly Saturday at Platte County Community Center North. He then looked up at the timing board and saw a new school record of 54.04 seconds and flopped forward into the water in celebration.

Already the record holder in the event, Keith’s previous best of 54.46 came in the Suburban Conference Blue Division Championships, and he has now lowered the former mark of Caden DeLay (54.90 in 2017) by almost a full second.

On Saturday, Keith held on to beat Pembroke Hill’s Marat Usov by a little over a quarter of a second.

Keith also won the 200 individual medley (2:03.66) — another event he recently toppled his own school record in — and swam a leg along with senior Collin Burton, sophomore Deacon Gutshall and senior Gage Jonkman on Platte County’s victorious 400 freestyle relay (3:29.56). The Pirates were second in the 200 freestyle relay with Keith, Burton, Gutshall and senior Carson Howe in a new-season best of 1:35.08, currently the No. 14 qualifying time for the Class 1 Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships.

Keith also finished second in the 100-yard butterfly in a school-record time of 54.46, the 16th-best Class 1 time so far this season. He came in ahead of junior Platte County teammate Collin Burton (third, 57.37 after swimming slightly faster in preliminaries) and bettered the previous program-best mare of 54.90 Caden Delay set in 2017.

Keith’s big day helped Platte County pile up 385 team points to finish more than 130 clear of runnerup St. Joseph Central. There were 13 teams total.

Gutshall, who recently set the 500 freestyle school record to topple the oldest one still on the books, recorded a pair of top-three finishes. He came in second in the 500 freestyle at 5:01.52 (about 8 seconds off his recent career-best) behind Raytown’s Ben Gippner.

In addition, Gutshall was third in the 200 freestyle in a career-best and new state qualifying consideration time of 1:51.69, about a second and a half faster than his previous time.

Gippner also won that event, while Burton gave Platte County a second swimmer in the top five, finishing fifth in 1:57.35. He also placed fourth (59.47) behind Keith in the 100 butterfly but was well off his season best of 56.69.

Jonkman recorded two fifth-place finishes for Platte County in the 200 individual medley (season-best 2:20.45) and 100 backstroke (1:02.85). Grimes was the other top-five individual finisher for the Pirates, coming in at a season-best 1:13.12 to claim fifth in the 100 breaststroke.

Platte County’s 200 medley relay of Jonkman, Howe, senior Austin Hough and junior Brayden Carter placed fourth (1:56.88) despite not having some of the key cogs when when at full strength.

Platte County Quad

The Pirates returned to the home pool Tuesday at Platte County Community Center North and easily outscored Smithville, Truman and William Chrisman.

In fact, Platte County won every event except for the 100 breaststroke, and Keith (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle), Howe (50 freestyle), Carter (100 butterfly) and Gutshall (100 freestyle, 100 backstroke) all recorded individual victories. The Pirates also won all three relays.

Both of Keith’s winning times in the 200 freestyle (1:51.23) and 500 freestyle (5:08.42) were season-best state consideration times, and he just missed his school record in the 200 freestyle from last year. That mark continues to sit at 1:51.14 and is the only one of his school records he hasn’t improved yet this year.

Gutshall is now less than a half second away from the mark, as well.

Platte County’s winning 200 medley (1:50.41) and 400 freestyle relay (3:38.57) consisted of Keith, Gutshall, Burton and Howe. The Pirates used Carter, Hough, senior Brody Corbin and sophomore Cobie Parkin in the 200 freestyle relay (1:43.34, a season-best for that grouping).

Eubank Invitational

Platte County placed second in the Blue Division — larger of two tiers in the 14-team meet — during a trip to Raytown on Thursday, September 29. The Pirates have never finished that high since moving out of the Red Division.

Park Hill took the overall title with 274 points with Platte County the runnerup with 227. The Pirates racked up big numbers in the 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke plus claimed runnerup in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

Keith recorded victories in both the 100 butterfly (then season-best 55.08) and 100 breaststroke (1:03.53), while Gutshall came in second in the 200 freestyle (1:55.97) behind Gippner, while Burton was third (1:57.61). Burton also claimed third in the 100 butterfly (59.96) while Gutshall was fourth 1:00.00) to give the Pirates three in the top five.

Jonkman placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke (season-best 1:09.73), and Platte County’s last individual top-five finish came from Howe (fifth, 55.17 in the 100 freestyle). The Pirates were second to Park Hill in both the 200 freestyle relay (1:35.92) and 400 freestyle relay (3:30.06) with Keith, Gutshall, Howe and Burton making up both quartets.