Not all the pieces were in inventory and there still might be too many.
Platte County seems to have a beneficial depth issue based off winning the team title in Staley’s Falcon Relays on Friday night at North Kansas City District Activities Complex. The meet only includes three individual running events plus field events, providing a unique format and opportunity to look at different combinations of four across traditional and non-traditional relays.
Totaling 114 points to beat Park Hill by nine, Platte County won three relays and finished top three in each of the other four. The Pirates used seniors Connor Currence, Andrew Johnson and Savion Jones; juniors Josh Fraker, Brayden Eschliman and Tanner Jenks; and sophomores Adam Gisler, Braiden Stevens, Blake Herron and Ty Christopher in at least two each, while junior Frailyn Lene, sophomore Elijah Jackson and freshman Jack Johnson were in one apiece.
Currence and Gisler made successful season debuts, while Platte County continued to be without standout sophomore Jackson Goodale, a Class 4 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships qualifier and anchor of three relays as a freshman, while senior Kade Meinke was also unavailable. The Pirates returned a lot of pieces from the traditional 4×800-meter and 4×400-meter relays but were mostly rebuilding the 4×100 and 4×200 units.
Right now, all four look to have options for an eventual top lineup, especially given the additional performances in the sprint medley and distance medley relays.
Currence factored in two of the victories — the opening 4×800 and closing 4×400 — in his first competitive action since losing most of his junior season to a stress fracture in his foot. With Meinke out, Currence, star Andrew Johnson, Herron and Jenks beat Park Hill South by nearly 16 seconds. The Pirates’ time of 8 minutes, 21.50 seconds was already 5 seconds better than last year’s season-best of 8:26.48 from the Suburban Conference White Division Championships — even without Meinke, a likely contributor especially if Andrew Johnson ends up focusing on individual events.
In the 4×400, Platte County subbed in Currence to the spot Meinke occupied in the Ron Ives Invitational a week earlier, and the Pirates put up an early-season best performance at 3:27.12 without Goodale but again utilizing junior standouts Fraker and Eschliman plus emerging freshman Jack Johnson. Last spring, Fraker, Eschliman and Goodale along with Aaron Cordova, the lone graduate from the unit, set a school record at 3:21.62 at Class 5 Sectional 4 but did not run sub-3:30 until the week prior to that at District 8.
In addition, Currence (400), Andrew Johnson (1,6000), Herron (1,200) and Jenks (800) came in second for Platte County in the distance medley relay.
Platte County’s quickly developing sophomore class also showed the 4×100 and 4×200 teams could quickly be rebuilt. That included the Pirates taking first place in the non-traditional 800 sprint medley (100-200-400-400) using Gisler, Stevens, Eschliman and Fraker to post a 1:36.22. Stevens, who made didn’t compete in track and field last season, was also on second-place 4×100 (44.18) and 4×200 (1:31.59) along with Christopher, while Gisler ran on the 4×100, which Jones rounded out as a first-year contributing senior. Eschliman and Fraker continued to run on the 4×200, which posted a season-best of 1:30.23 last year at the White Division meet.
Only Goodale returned from a strong 4×100 in 2023 that had a season-best of 42.90 at conference and seemed poise to go faster before an injury ended Platte County’s Class 5 District 8 race early.
Platte County needed a more unique combination for the 1,600 sprint medley that included Christopher and Jones, while Lene and Jackson ran in their only relay. The Pirates posted a 3:54.06 and were just off the winning mark from Oak Park (3:48.10) and runnerup Park Hill South (3:52.62).
Even with seven relays available, Platte County also debuted Jack Johnson in both hurdles events. He quickly showed his potential, placing third in a solid 300 field at 42.85 and coming in sixth in the 110s at 16.75. No one for the Pirates ran faster in the 300s last year, while only junior Caden McGhee went lower in the 110s. He will miss the entirety of this season due to an ACL tear suffered in football, leaving Jack Johnson as the likely top hurdler for this spring.
Platte County rolled up the majority of the team points in the relays, but seniors Kevin Taylor and Gage Fulk also turned in career-best field performances of note. Taylor finished second in the pole vault and cleared 3.66 meters for the first time, bettering his previous PR of 3.4 meters from last year’s Class 5 District 8 meet. Fulk, who missed all of last season due to an ACL tear, continued a strong start to the spring with personal-best distances in both the discus (45.46 meters) and shot put (12.81 meters).
Fulk placed fifth in the discus a week after he threw 39.69 meters in the Ron Ives Invitational. Prior to this season, he had never recorded a distance better than 34 meters (2022 Warrior Relays) but has now bettered that in both full meets as a senior.
