Mitchell sets school record, teams with runnerup Gentilia to lead Platte County to conference crown

Sisely Mitchell ended up running completely alone at the front of the field — a position normally not conducive to elite results.

In this instance, Platte County’s star senior pushed herself to the fastest time in program history in Saturday’s Suburban Conference White Division Championships on the campus of Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph. She repeated as the individual winner, crossing the finish line in an astounding 18 minutes, 28.50 seconds to lead the Pirates to their first team title in a league meet since 2016.

Platte County senior Carmen Gentilia finished as runnerup to Mitchell for a second straight year, while junior Madison Palmer (fourth), sophomore Joanna Reil (eighth) and senior Alex Beeman (ninth) provided the needed support. The Pirates posted a team score of 24 and beat Grain Valley by eight points.

Only three teams brought the requisite five runners needed to post a team score, and Platte County and Grain Valley accounted for the top 12 finishers. Last year, the Eagles had the next five runners behind Mitchell and Gentilia to earn the team championship.

This time around, Palmer (21:00.80) set a personal-best in a breakthrough performance, while Reil, Beeman and sophomore Eleanor McCoy were all in between Grain Valley’s fourth and fifth scoring runners to provide extra distance in the team standings for Platte County, which last won a conference title in the Blue Division.

Mitchell entered as the overwhelming favorite and did not disappoint. She went under 19 minutes for the second straight meet and third time in her career. The 18:28.50 blew away her previous career-best of 18:51.40 from last year’s Gans Creek Classic and bettered Rebekah Geddes’ 2018 Class 4 MSHSAA State Cross Country Championships time of 18:44.66 by more than 16 seconds.

This marked Mitchell’s fourth career individual victory, as well — a huge accomplishment for an athlete who didn’t fully dedicate herself to long-distance running until her sophomore year.

Gentilia finished more than a minute behind Mitchell but posted a solid 19:47.70 on a course unfamiliar to Platte County. She went nearly 30 seconds faster than her runnerup time as a junior and finished her career with four top-11 finishes in the conference meet.

Earlier this year, Gentilia became just the seventh in program history go under 20 minutes, and she’s now done that three times total and now in two consecutive races.

Palmer ran just her fourth race of the season and cut nearly 54 seconds off her previous fastest time this fall — a 21:54.00 in the season-opening Tim Nixon Invitational. She has battled injury but finally appears healthy with the top-five showing after placing 11th and 20th in her two other conference runs.

Reil was just off of her PR from the Tim Nixon Invitational and finished eighth in 22:07.70, her fastest time since going under 22 minutes for the first time. She did not run in last year’s conference meet.

Beeman completed a slow move up from JV at conference as a freshman to 16th as a sophomore and 13th as a junior to earn her first top 10 finish. Her mark of 22:09.00 is her second-fastest time of the season.

McCoy and junior Brooklynne Jenni (12th) also earned all-conference honors despite not factoring in the team scoring. McCoy’s 22:19.40 marked a career-best and further cemented her position in the lineup, while Jennie also set a PR at 22:28.80.

Platte County’s top five finishers all have prior state experience, while McCoy and Jenni have shown the depth of the lineup. In addition to the conference runners, senior Marissa Orellana and junior Annabel Beeman have also competed in the postseason in previous years but currently sit outside the top seven.

With a week off ahead, Platte County now prepares for the Class 4 District 4 meet looking to earn a fourth straight team berth to state. The Pirates have gone each of the past three years but did not have senior on varsity at any point during the past two seasons.