Platte County digs deep to earn 1st district team title since 2019

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Josh Fraker endured by far the busiest day for Platte County in Saturday’s Class 5 District 8 meet and still delivered in the final moments, refusing to acknowledge any injury concerns.

Running the anchor leg of the 4×400-meter relay, Fraker’s lap gave Platte County a victory at North Kansas City District Activities Complex and provided the finish needed to wrap up the program’s first district title since 2019. The Pirates went in needing to finish ahead of Liberty, and juniors Ty Christopher and Jackson Goodale and sophomore Jack Johnson delivered him the baton in first place.

Platte County posted a season-best of 3 minutes, 19.45 seconds while running this particular combination of runners for just the second time and finished more than a second in front of runnerup Park Hill and third-place Liberty, which entered with a shot to steal the team title late but couldn’t prevent the Pirates from claiming the first Class 5 district championship in the program’s history. Previously more focused on print events, Christopher provided the lead leg, while Goodale (leg muscle) and Johnson (shoulder) both missed time this year due to injury.

Most recently, Fraker became a late scratch for the 4×400 just five days earlier in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships after he felt discomfort in his hamstring late in the warmups for the race. He ran in both the 4×800 and 4×400 relays plus the open 400 and 800 and qualified for this weekend’s Class 5 Sectional 4 meet in all four events to help rack up important team points. The Pirates also benefitted from juniors Braiden Stevens (100 meters) and Cale Buntz (javelin) setting school records while junior Blake Herron (3,200 meters) and sophomore Kyler Parker (shot put) set PRs to unexpectedly extend their seasons, as well.

Despite a few notable disappointments, Platte County racked up 114 team points and finished three clear of Liberty, which went into the final race with a chance to steal the team title. Liberty North finished third with 102 points.

Instead, Platte County’s lineup of Christopher, Johnson, Goodale and Fraker bettered the a season-best mark of 3:19.60 set earlier this season in the Kearney Classic Invitational. Fraker and Goodale look to qualify for the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships in the event for a third straight year, after setting a school record of 3:17.88 in last year’s state preliminaries and then finishing as runnerup in the finals. The Pirates expected to return three legs from that unit, but senior Brayden Eschliman did not run this season while rehabbing a torn ACL from football season.

However, Johnson ran the 4×400 during much of a breakout freshman season while Goodale battled an abductor muscle injury and didn’t return until the postseason series. He appears on a similar track this year after limiting his training in recent weeks but returning at conference, only for Fraker to scratch with sophomore Nick Fetterman running the lead leg. The Pirates were about 10 seconds faster Saturday compared to the White Division race when freshman Josiah O’Rourke served as the emergency anchor in Fraker’s absence.

Cleared of any significant injury concern, Fraker also advanced to sectionals in an individual event for the first time, doing so in both the 400 and 800. He earned the district title in the 400 at 49.48 with Goodale also earning one of the qualifying spots with a fourth-place finish in 50.56 — just .10 of a second in front of North Kansas City’s Breck Brown. Goodale ran just his third open 400 of the season and first since setting a PR of 49.24 in the Kearney Classic Invitational on April 11.

Fraker posted a career-best of 48.31 earlier this season but didn’t seem in position to challenge that or Naron Rollins’ school record of 47.85 set in 2012.

Fraker still needed to run in two more races after the 400, and he placed third in the 800 at 1:58.76, moving up multiple spots in the second of two laps to advance to sectionals. This came after he set a new school record of 1:55.07 at the Ken Peek Invitational on April 25, which ended up Platte County’s last meet prior to conference due to multiple weather cancellations.

Decisions about to handle the Class 5 Sectional 4 schedule Saturday at Blue Springs High School might have to be made with Fraker also anchoring Platte County’s 4×800 meter relay that included senior Tanner Jenks and juniors Blake Herron and Elijah Jackson to fourth in districts. The Pirates throttled back the third and fourth legs for Fraker and Herron in anticipation of their busy days and needing to beat only one of the other five entrants to advance.

Jackson, who also placed seventh in the 800 just days after setting a PR while winning conference, and Jenks put Platte County in solid position, and Fraker ran just hard enough to help the Pirates finish about 2 seconds in front of fifth-place Park Hill.

Platte County posted a casual 8:29.32, well off of the pace from a season-best of 8:00.82 from Jefferson City’s Licklider Relays. Fraker and Herron were the lone holdovers from last year’s unit that threatened the school record but saw the season end in the Class 5 Sectional 4 race with two teams disqualified for repeatedly running on the inside line and throwing the state qualification process into chaos.

Herron saw the payoff from the less stressful first race, after opting to run in two individual long-distance races, as well. A contributor on the last three of Platte County’s record-setting state cross country teams, he placed eighth in the 1,600 but still came back for the 3,200 and set a PR of 9:36.93 to finish third and outperform his seeding.

Jenks and Herron went out fast early in an attempt to help dictate the pace, and Platte County nearly sent two on to sectionals. Herron came across the line in a tight pack of top-three finishers, while Jenks eventually faded to sixth (9:43.34). Both were running the 3,200 for just the third time this season, and Herron competed in the event for just the fourth time in the past two seasons.

After the race, Herron simultaneously tried to catch his breath, while consoling an obviously disappointed teammate.

Fraker, Goodale and Herron won’t be the only Platte County runners in multiple races at Class 5 Sectional 4. Christopher placed second in the 200 at 22.09, while fellow junior Braiden Stevens set the school record in the 100 for a second time this season, this time lowering the mark to 10.48 seconds.

Staley senior RJ Collins won both the 200 (21.44) and 100 (10.42).

Platte County could have entered four runners into the 100, but Stevens and junior Adam Gisler took the two default entries. Gisler finished third in a career-best 10.72, just off Platte County’s school record prior to this season of 10.66 that Rollins set in 2012. Stevens lowered the time to 10.64 at the Licklider Relays, while Gisler improved on his prior PR of 10.82 in a bunched finish that also included Oak Park sophomore Deng Tong (fourth-place, 10.74) and Liberty North junior Tony Chery (fifth-place, 10.75).

Chery actually won the second heat and nearly knocked a runner from the third out of the sectional qualifying spots.

Stevens, Christopher and fellow junior Adeboye Akande also advanced out of districts on both Platte County’s 4×100 and 4×200 relays, which have both set the school record this season. The 4×100, which also includes Gisler out of the blocks on the first leg, recently posted the fastest time for the event in Missouri history but came in second to Staley on Saturday. Collins ran the anchor leg and staged a late comeback after a nearly botched third handoff and brought the Falcons across the finish line in 41.45.

Christopher ran the anchor leg for Platte County and crossed in 41.48, about a quarter of a second off of the historic mark of 41.24 from Monday’s conference meet.

In the 4×200, Platte County used Stevens out of the blocks with senior Caden McGhee, Akande and Christopher following him. The Pirates ended up third in 1:28.98, losing out on photo finish for second to Liberty (1:28.97). Collins again anchored Staley to a win in 1:28.55.

Platte County used the same 4×200 combination when setting a school record of 1:27.81 earlier this season that erased the mark of Jaron Rollins, Naron Rollins, Ben Matthews and JT Taylor from 2012.

The latest school record to fall came during the afternoon javelin competition.

Buntz actually set the mark three different times but only two ended up counting, still good enough to bring an end a lengthy chase. He qualified for finals with a PR of 50.45 meters and then held third place with the new school record of 51.99 meters. An error in administrating the event nullified a throw of more than 53 meters during preliminaries.

Uniquely, Platte County throwing coach Dakota Schmidt, who played a role in Buntz’s rapid development over the past two seasons, set the previous school record of 49.78 meters at districts in 2018. He held the mark until Butnz became the first in program history to throw more than 50 meters in the javelin on Saturday.

Platte County junior Cole Johnson also set a PR of 46.52 meters but finished sixth and missed a sectional spot by a little more than 3 meters.

Parker also advanced out of districts in the throws after setting three different PRs in the shot put. He sat fourth out of preliminaries with a mark of 14.29 meters — best of his career to that point — but went 14.86 meters in finals to end up third overlain a breakout performance.

Prior to Saturday, Parker’s PR came during his freshman season at 13.82 meters in addition to an effort of 13.80 meters at this year’s Darwin Rold Invitational back in late March.

Platte County junior Dany Biganiro just missed a PR in the finals of the triple jump and finished fifth at 12.66 meters, just behind Liberty junior Michael Doyle in fourth (12.78 meters). Other close calls included Akande in the 200 after finishing fifth in 22.42 — just .04 of a second behind Liberty senior Lincoln Hare — and Johnson in the 300 hurdles. He advanced to sectionals in the event as a freshman and ran significantly faster in districts this year (40.16) but would have needed to be around his career-best of 39.64 set in his first race this season to end up in the top four.