LIBERTY, Mo. — Platte County found an opportune time to look at options for a rebuilt 4×800-meter relay and came away with encouraging results in Friday’s Ron Ives Invitational at Liberty High School. Even not at full strength, the Pirates finished second at 10 minutes, 27.21 seconds with a combination of seniors Addie Ayers and Madelyn Stewart, sophomore Tyler Stambersky and freshman Carlie Baker.
Platte County freshman Mary Dellinger runs in the 400-meter race of the Ron Ives Invitational on Friday at Liberty High School in Liberty.
Adi Benninghoff, a senior, recorded Platte County’s lone victory in the 100 hurdles, and the Pirates finished fifth out of 15 teams with 62 points. Liberty (153) and Liberty North (133 1/2) were the runaway top two with Park Hill South and Lee’s Summit also placing ahead of the Pirates.
Ayers qualified for state in the 4×800 as a freshman and sophomore, while senior Emily Huehl ran on last year’s unit that reached Class 5 Sectional 4.
Platte County expects to build around those two but limited Huehl to the open 800 in the first full meet of the season plus the non-traditional 1,600 sprint medley relay. She came in fourth (2:33.69) in the 800 with Ayers, a state-medal winner in the 4×800 as a freshman, right behind in fifth (2:34.08). Stambersky and Baker doubled up with the 3,200 while Stewart also ran the 1,600.
Benninghoff, one of two individual state medalists back on this year’s roster, set a season-best of 15.24 in her second 100 hurdles race of the season. Her strong start bodes well for finally knocking out the longest-standing school record still on the books after finishing eighth in Class 5 as a junior.
With Benninghoff in just one race, Platte County junior Maggie Wagner (fifth, 51.05) posted the team’s top placement in the 300 hurdles during her busy day.
Platte County junior Maggie Wagner runs in the 300-meter hurdles race of the Ron Ives Invitational on Friday at Liberty High School in Liberty.
Platte County freshman Mary Dellinger ran the 400 for the first time in her career and came in fourth at 1:02.28 and also ran a leg of the 1,600 sprint medley, hosted at this meet each year. The Pirates were third overall at 4:31.36 with juniors Vanessa Sarpong and Adi Kern running the 200s, Dellinger the 400 and Huehl the 800.
Sarpong, Wagner, Kern and senior Rylee Carr added a fourth-place finish in the 4×100 at 51.81 — an opening mark for a unit looking to rebuild after a school record of 50.28 at last season’s Class 5 District 8 meet.
Platte County junior Kelly Bullano recorded the best field event showing for the Pirates on Friday, coming in fourth in the javelin at 34.54 meters. She owns the school record of 41.55 meters from her state-medal-winning performance as a freshman in the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships.
Bullano threw 36.48 in the season-opening Liberty North Time Trials coming off of a 2025 spring that ended in Class 5 Sectional 4.
