Platte County junior Carmen Gentilia runs in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships Saturday at Grain Valley North Middle School in Grain Valley.
GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. — Unfortunately, margin of victory doesn’t play a part in cross country scoring.
Otherwise, Platte County would have runaway with the Suburban Conference White Division Championships team title. The Pirates came in second to host Grain Valley on Saturday at Grain Valley North Middle School despite having the individual champion and runnerup in juniors Sisely Mitchell and Carmen Gentilia, who ran away from the rest of the field on a sun-splashed morning with crisp temperatures.
Mitchell came in at 19 minutes, 7.43 seconds to become Platte County’s first individual champion since 2016 with Gentilia more than a minute behind at 20:23.80.
Grain Valley sophomore Jordan Gossag placed third in 21:21.74 but led aa parade of six straight Eagles to cross the finish line next. Only the top five scored, totaling 25 points. Platte County (37) was second with only three of five teams having enough runners to qualify but were denied the program’s first conference title since 2016.
Platte County junior Julia Greco runs in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships on Saturday at Grain Valley North Middle School in Grain Valley.
“We kind of set goals; we talk as a team what we want to do,” Mitchell said. “But at the end of the day, yeah, it’s that individual. You are in charge of how you run, and you’re running for the team to give your best so it can have the best outcome for everyone.”
Platte County spent recent years as a challenger but never unable to unseat Kearney and Smithville in the Blue Division before moving up a tier. The Pirates seemed to enter as potential favorites after placing third on the same course during the recent Sock It to Cancer Grain Valley Invitational on the same course when the hosts only ran four runners. The Eagles had all seven two weeks later and ended up taking seven all-conference spots and ending any drama early.
“I know that we had some goals to stick with some girls, and yeah, it was kind of a surprise,” Mitchell said.
Platte County claimed five all-conference medals with junior Marissa Orellana (10th, 22:47.79), sophomore Madison Palmer (11th, 23:00.71) and junior Alex Beeman (13th, 23:26.09) also in the top 15. The Pirates just didn’t quite have enough to make a championship push with sophomore Lily Kytasaari likely out for the rest of the season due to club soccer commitments.
Platte County junior Marissa Orellana runs in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships on Saturday at Grain Valley North Middle School in Grain Valley.
Mitchell became a two-time all-conference performer after finishing as Blue Division runnerup as a first-year sophomore. The former hockey and volleyball player turned distance running phenom recorded one of the fastest times of her career and improved by nearly a minute from her last time on the course two weeks earlier.
Separating from the rest of the field within the first mile, Mitchell ran essentially alone in becoming the first conference champion since Rebekah Geddes in 2016.
“It’s different running alone. You’re just kind of out there by yourself going by how you feel instead of having someone right there to push you,” said Mitchell, who is one of only two runners in program history to run a sub-19 minute time and will be continually chasing Geddes’ school record of 18:44.66. “I think sometimes it’s easier to get out of your comfort zone when there’s someone there also getting out of their comfort zone.”
Gentilia, who finished fourth at conference as sophomore and 11th as a freshman, just missed her PR set on the Grain Valley North course this season. Now a three-time all-conference performer, she also ran well ahead of the Grain Valley pack behind her but continued to give Platte County a formidable 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup.
With Mitchell now fully committed and Gentilia fully healthy after an injury-plagued sophomore season, Platte County can shift its focus to the postseason push and a chance at a third straight team berth to the Class 4 Missouri State Cross Country Championships. The top four teams at Class 4 District 4 a week from Saturday at Jesse James Park in Kearney will automatically advance, and despite not having a senior in the lineup at any point during the past two years, the Pirates have an experienced lineup taking shape.
Platte County sophomore Madison Palmer runs in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships on Saturday at Grain Valley North Middle School in Grain Valley.
Mitchell, Gentilia, Beeman, Orellana, Palmer and junior Julia Greco were all on last year’s state team. Greco finished 19th in Saturday’s conference meet at 24:16.13, just behind sophomore teammate Annabel Beeman in 18th (23:43.45). Annabel Beeman has been a regular in the lineup for much of her two seasons, as well.
Mitchell earned all-state honors as a sophomore and led Platte County to 13th place out of 16 teams. Gentilia is the only runner on the roster to have been on each of the past two state teams.
