Platte County could have brought back the entire roster from last year’s impressively youthful lineup, which finished second in the Suburban Conference Blue Division Championships and Class 4 District 4 meet. The Pirates have so much depth returning that there’s little doubt that more success awaits.
Elite junior Sisely Mitchell comes back at No. 1 after a breakout sophomore season — her first in the sport — as the program’s first Class 4 all-state performers since 2016 and already one of the best to ever run at Platte County. In addition, junior Carmen Gentilia comes back as the only member of both the unique 2020 and 2021 double of Class 4 Missouri State Cross Country Championships qualifying teams, and juniors Alex Beeman and Marissa Orellana and sophomore Madison Palmer were on the 13th-place team during last year’s “rebuilding” campaign when the Pirates didn’t run a single meet with a senior in the lineup.
Those five plus sophomores Lily Kytasaari and Annabel Beeman also contributed to a strong regular season. Kytasaari often ran as a strong No. 3 for Platte County but missed the postseason due to club soccer conflicts, which could always be a factor in her availability this season. The Pirates will have a smallish roster in Courtland Ingram’s second year as head coach, leaving injuries as the only real concern.
In 2020, Platte County featured a senior-heavy roster that didn’t earn one of two automatic state team berths in a COVID-adjusted postseason but sent five runners, including Gentilia, as individuals to earn the right to post a team score at state in Class 4. The Pirates finished eighth in the final team standings and then entered last season with only Gentilia back in the fold but also on the shelf due to injury.
Mitchell quelled any fears about the lineup’s potential to compete. After giving up volleyball and hockey (yes, hockey), she excelled from the outset and needed just five races to become the fifth runner in Platte County history to go sub-20 minutes before finishing as Blue Division and District 4 runnerup.
Making her state debut, Mitchell placed 11th in 19 minutes, 12.20 seconds to become the first for Platte County to place in the top 25 since school-record holder Rebekah Geddes came in fourth in Class 4 at state in her junior season when it was still the largest classification before expanding to five prior to the 2020 season. Geddes was all-state in each of her three seasons from 2014-16 and the only runner for the Pirates to ever go sub-19 minutes — for now.
However, Platte County’s level of team success will hinge on a healthy Gentilia, Kytasaari’s availability, the Beeman sisters’ contributions and continued development of Orellana and Palmer.
Gentilia missed much of last season due to injury but returned in time for conference and the postseason and finished in 20:23.90 to place 56th at state — exactly 2 seconds off of her career-best time set at state a year earlier when she finished 46th. In addition, Alex Beeman (106th, career-best 21:25.80) and Orellana (132nd, career-best 22:31.30), a first-year runner who started the season well off the varsity roster, contributed to the team score, and Palmer (144th, career-best 22:47.20) impressed in the biggest meet of her first season.
At state, Alex Beeman took more than a minute off her previous low time, incidentally run on the same course earlier last season. Platte County will then see what the else might be available beyond the expected top seven with senior Sloan Kassen (113th at state last year), junior Julia Greco (137th at state last year) and junior Lydia Doole, who missed all of last season due to injury but went to state as a freshman alongside Gentilia, as of now are not on the roster.
