Platte County sophomore Deacon Gutshall swims in the 200-yard freestyle during Friday’s Suburban Conference White Division Championships at Belton High School in Belton.
The largest collective group of time improvements in veteran coach Bret Anderson’s career created the recipe for Platte County’s first conference title since 2014. The Pirates secured five individual race victories from sophomore Palmer Keith and seniors Collin Burton, Gage Jonkman and Carson Howe plus a relay title in Saturday’s finals of the Suburban Conference White Division Championships, rolling up 551 team points and easily outdistancing Raytown (436) at the top of the team standings. Howe in particular turned in breakout performances to bolster the effort.
Almost improbably, Platte County’s individual conference champions did not include sophomore Deacon Gutshall, who set a school record in all four of his individual races between Friday’s preliminaries and finals but finished second in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle.
Platte County’s last league title came in the Blue Division in 2014, and the Pirates spent the past seven years unsuccessfully chasing down Kearney — nearly unseating the Bulldogs a year ago before bumping to the White Division this season for the first time in program history. They were the class of this season’s five-team meet, which also included Grain Valley, Belton and William Chrisman.
Platte County sophomore Palmer Keith celebrates after winning the 100-yard breaststroke Saturday in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships at Belton High School in Belton.
Nearly across the board, Platte County produced season-bests, and two different relays were near school-record pace in the last full competition before the Class 1 Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships next weekend at Rec-Plex in St. Peters.
Gutshall continued to improve his best state consideration times as his increased aptitude for long-distance freestyle went on full display. He set the school record in the 200 freestyle at 1 minute, 47.62 seconds in Saturday’s final after recording a 1:48 time in the preliminaries to better the previous mark Keith set in 2021 at 1:51.14.
Already the owner of the 500 freestyle program record, Gutshall twice more lowered that mark, going 4:50.18 in the finals after his 4:50.86 in preliminaries. He lost both finals races to Raytown senior Ben Gippner but has already become Platte County’s best long-distance freestyle swimmer in program history with the only sub-5-minute in the 500 and sub-1:50 in the 200 times ever recorded. Burton (200 freestyle, 1:53.51) and Jonkman (500 freestyle, 5:16.49) were both third behind Gutshall in individual races and set season-best state consideration times in the process.
Platte County senior Collin Burton swims in the 100-yard butterfly Saturday at the Suburban Conference White Division Championships at Belton High School in Belton.
Gutshall now ranks eighth in Class 1 for the 500 freestyle after finishing 17th in last year’s state prelims and just missing honorable mention all-state honors, and he is now 16th in the 200 freestyle.
Keith swept his two individual events, dominating the 200 individual medley and recording a career best 1:00.50 in the 100 breaststroke to maximize points for Platte County. He still owns the school record in the IM but only needed to go 2:07.53 to win that race Saturday with senior Austin Hough (2:18.66) and quickly blossoming freshman Jack Hokanson (2:21.90) making it a top-three sweep for the Pirates.
Hough also placed third for Platte County in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.97).
Platte County senior Carson Howe swims the freestyle during the Suburban Conference White Division Championships on Saturday at Belton High School in Belton.
Keith also still owns the school record in the 100 butterfly, but Platte County used Burton (season-best 57.04), junior Brayden Carter (season-best 59.83) and Hokanson (1:03.35) to sweep the top three spots in that event, as well. Burton and Carter both turned in state new state consideration cuts in the process.
Howe hit state cuts in both of his events and became a conference champion, going 51.97 in the 100 freestyle — nearly 2 full seconds faster than his prelim time that seeded him third. His first individual final resulted in a career-best 23.13 in the 50 freestyle, and that bettered his preliminary mark by a half second.
In the 50 freestyle, Howe hit a state consideration cut for the first time after making marks in the 100 and 200 as a junior. He also has a potential state time in the 100 for a second year in a row.
Jonkman also added a conference title in the 100 backstroke to his bronze medal in the 500. He set a season-best in the 100 backstroke at 1:00.32 and won the race by nearly 3 full seconds.
Platte County senior Gage Jonkman competes in the 100-yard backstroke final Saturday in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships at Belton High School in Belton.
In addition to the individual successes, Platte County’s 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle closed in on school records.
The 400 team of Gutshall, Keith, Jonkman and Burton captured the conference title in a season-best 3:24.65, moving up to No. 12 in the state. This group of Pirates is about a second off the school record.
The 200 team of Gutshall, Keith, Burton and Howe now ranks No. 6 in the state after finishing second to Raytown. The Pirates came in at 1:31.49 — just more than 1/10 of a second and about a half second off of the school record for that event.
The 200 medley of Jonkman, Howe, Carter and senior Weston Grimes also placed second to Raytown and recording a time of 1:48.12.
In addition to two relays currently seeded to score state points, Platte County has Gutshall and Keith (seventh, 100 breaststroke and eighth, 200 IM). Keith is also just outside the top 16 in the 100 butterfly, but swimmers are limited to two individual and two relay events apiece at state.
