The schedule did no favors after the long holiday break.
Platte County jumped back into action, starting 2025 in two of the largest competitions of the season. This past weekend, the Pirates put two of three relays into the finals to account for all eight team points in the KC Classic, held at Gladstone Community Center in Kansas City.
In addition, Platte County junior Ashleigh Cruce made the 100-yard breaststroke final but did not swim the event on Saturday, giving way to an alternate.
Platte County’s 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays both qualified 15th out of Friday’s preliminaries and then held that placement in the finals. The Pirates, who finished 22nd out of 24 teams in the final standings, didn’t hit any season-bests but notably continued to look at different combinations with the stretch run of the season looming.
Most notably, Platte County junior Erin Anderson swam a leg on each of the finalist relays. The Pirates used Cruce, senior Ireland Shank and sophomore Mackenzie Johnson on the medley team, while sophomore Ronnie Benford, Johnson and Shank in the 400 freestyle lineup.
Platte County improved times in both events from preliminaries to finals. In the 200 medley, the Pirates qualified in 2 minutes, 7.83 seconds and then went 2:06.79 in the finals.
The 400 freestyle team posted a 4:15.76 Friday and improved that to 4:15.07 in the finals.
Cruce posted the No. 16 qualifying time in the 100 breaststroke (1:17.17) but was about a second and a half off of her current state consideration qualifying time for the Class 1 MSHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships. In addition, Cruce placed 20th in the 100 butterfly preliminaries (1:04.95), while Johnson came in 21st in the 200 IM (2:32.00).
Benford (6:10.68) ended up 24th in the 500 freestyle preliminaries, a spot behind Johnson (23rd, 6:09.18).
COMO Invitational
In another 24-team meet, Platte County placed 18th with 21 points the prior weekend in Columbia, Missouri. Inclement weather limited the field’s participants.
Platte County placed all three relays in the B finals, while Cruce posted the Pirates’ best finish of the weekend — 12th in the 100 butterfly (1:04.74). She moved up a spot after qualifying 13th in 1:04.91 with both times just off of her season-best and current state mark in the event.
Cruce also swam on Platte County’s 13th-place 200 medley relay team with senior Chloe Pegler, Shank and Johnson. The group posted a new season-best and state qualifying mark of 2:04.88 in preliminaries — good enough for 11th — but dropped back two spots after finishing in 2:05.39 in the finals.
Platte County’s 200 and 400 freestyle relays both dropped time from prelims to finals. In the shorter of the two, Cruce, Pegler, Anderson and Benford was 15th in both races but went from 1:54.58 to 1:52.84. The 400 team of Shank, Anderson, Benford and Johnson qualified 16th to take the last finals spot at 4:12.99 but then moved up to 15th at 4:08.99.
