Platte County leaves no doubt in capturing 4th conference title in past 5 seasons

Platte County might have expected more of a challenge, but the program’s third straight first-place finish in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships became an obvious conclusion Monday at Belton High School’s Southwick Stadium. The Pirates piled up 242 points and finished nearly 100 clear of runnerup Grain Valley (147) with Belton third (112) in the eight-team standings.

Having won the title each of the three seasons since moving up to the White Division, Platte County has won four conference titles in the past five years. The Pirates also won the Blue Division crown in 2021 to a break a lengthy drought dating back to the KCI Conference in the early 1990s.

The stars included junior Adi Benninghoff (sweep of the two hurdle events), sophomore Adi Kern (four top-two individual showings) and senior Addy Schlake (three more medals).

Platte County’s sweep of the top three spots in the 800-meter run were representative of the overwhelming depth with seniors Alexia Myer and Maddie Nichols in first and second and junior Emily Huehl third. Myer finished in 2 minutes, 29.04 seconds with Nichols right behind in a season-best 2:29.76. Huehl, a transfer from Wakefield where she earned Class 1A all-state honors in the 800 as a sophomore, still owns the Pirates’ second-fastest time in the event this season at 2:27.90, just off of Myer’s career-best of 2:27.80.

Nichols also finished second in the 1,600 with her best time this season (5:41.49) with junior Maddie Stewart close behind in third at 5:42.05, and Platte County ended up with three medalists after freshman Madison Fuller came in sixth (6:31.74). The Pirates also used Myer and Huehl in the 4×800 with junior Addie Ayers, a two-time state qualifier and part of the school-record unit from last season, but also subbed in sophomore Lexi Meinke for Nichols.

Platte County easily finished first in a small three-team field at 10:43.41, able to save energy back for later races with Grain Valley in second and not fielding its top lineup. The long-distance success for the Pirates extended to the 3,200 late in the meet with freshman Tyler Stambersky easily taking the conference championship at 12:47.86, almost exactly a full second in front of Grain Valley sophomore and runnerup Emma Blew (13:47.53), and junior Alexis Nielsen also set a career-best of 14:14.03 to come in third out of five runners.

In both hurdle events, Benninghoff came in first in front of Platte County rapidly developing sophomore Maggie Wagner (second) and junior Heaven Jale (fourth). Benninghoff (15.05 in the 100s and 49.24 in the 300s), Wagner (16.52 in the 100s and 49.50 in the 300s) and Jale (16.76 in the 100s and 51.53 in the 300s) all set career-bests in those races.

Benninghoff and Wagner went under 50 seconds for the first time in the longer of the two, while Jale posted a time in the 16s for the first time in the 100 hurdles.

The chase for the 100 hurdles school record Jan Herndon set at 14.93 back in 1993 continues for Benninghoff, who went from unheralded freshman to state qualifier as a sophomore. Wagner didn’t run hurdles last season and has cut significant time in limited races this spring — seven total between the two events so far.

Kern took a break from relays to focus on individual opportunities that resulted in big points for Platte County. She won both the 200 (career-best 26.59 in her first start this season) with fellow sophomore Vanessa Sarpong fourth (27.27) for Platte County and high jump (personal-best of 1.6 meters). She added runnerup placements in the 100 at 12.90 and the pole vault (2.74 meters) with senior teammate Raina McDowell sixth (career-best 2.43 meters) for the Pirates.

Prior to Monday, Kern had never gone faster than 27.63 in the 200 nor cleared higher than 1.47 meters in the high jump, often running in one or both sprint relays that limit her individual events. She qualified for Class 5 Sectional 4 in the pole vault as a freshman and hopes to continue progression starting in this weekend’s Class 5 District 8 meet in an effort to earn her first berth in the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships.

Right behind Kern, Schlake finished second in the high jump (1.55 meters), having now set a career-best in the event in each of her entries into the event this season, while sophomore Maggie Davis gave Platte County a third medal after finishing fourth (career-best 1.50 meters). Schlake added another conference title in the discus with a mark of 38.52 meters while still chasing last year’s school-record form of 41.57 meters, set during the regular season at the Licklider Relays before advancing to state in the event for a second straight year.

Schlake did set a personal-best in the shot put at 11.10 meters, good enough for fourth.

Platte County sophomore Kelly Bullano finished second in the javelin (38.33 meters) and followed Schlake in the discus, posting a fourth-place mark of 29.95 meters. Bullano set the school record in the javelin multiple times as a sophomore and still holds the mark of 42.58 she posted while winning a Class 5 state medal. The Pirates took home two conference medals in the event with junior Ashleigh Cruce in fourth (32.19 meters).

Wagner added a third top-six finish by placing fifth in the long jump (4.65 meters), while junior Rylee Carr also came in fifth in the triple jump (career-best of 9.59 meters).

Even in events without the max of three entrants, Platte County found a way to score points. That included junior Evie Thrasher coming in third in the 400 (1:04.77) as the only runner for the Pirates, who ran away with the team title without dominating the relays.

Platte County did also win the 4×200 with a team of Sarpong, Davis, Wagner and Bullano, adding some sprint duties to her throwing events. The Pirates posted a 1:49.62.

In the 4×400, Davis, Thrasher, Ayers and Huehl ran 4:26.68 and placed third but didn’t approach the season-best of 4:20.21.