Considering the collection of individual performances, Platte County’s comfortable margin of victory in the final team standings at Tuesday’s Suburban Conference White Vision Championships makes a lot of sense — especially when factoring in past successes.
Platte County senior Rylee Carr finishes an attempt in the long jump during the Suburban Conference White Division Championships on Tuesday at Fort Osage High School in Independence.
Platte County seniors Rylee Carr (long jump) and Emily Huehl (800-meters), junior Adi Kern (pole vault) and the Pirates’ 4×200-meter relay all set season bests at Fort Osage High School in Independence. The Pirates captured a fifth conference title in a span of six years, showing ample depth on a roster with only three previous state qualifiers in the fold.
The eight individual conference titles for Platte County included a sweep of the hurdles events from senior Adi Benninghoff and junior Maggie Wagner — each winning one.
In the 100s, Benninghoff dominated and won the White Division race for a fourth consecutive season, this time in 15.25 — just off a season-best of 15.20 from early April. She continues to chase a PR of 14.95 from last year’s Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships when she finished eighth in state.
Wagner came in second with a personal-best of 16.40 but then won the 300s in 48.85 with Benninghoff third with a 51.49 but earning valuable team points.
Platte County junior Vanessa Sarpong runs a leg of the 4×200-meter relay during the Suburban Conference White Division Championships on Tuesday at Fort Osage High School in Independence.
Platte County also swept the 4×100 and 4×200 relays with a talented mix of contributors. Benninghoff, Carr and juniors Kelly Bullano and Vanessa Sarpong ran the Pirates’ best 4×200 time this season (1:48.03) and edged Fort Osage by just over a half second.
Carr, Kern, Sarpong and Wagner ran 50.79 for Platte County in the 4×100 and were just off of a school record from four days earlier at the Pirates’ home meet. In that race, Benninghoff ran the lead league in place of Kern, who was out due to a schedule conflict.
Kern also won the White Division title in the pole vault, clearing 3.05 meters for the third time in her career — all since April 10. Carr came in second in the long jump but went 5.33 meters to set a PR by 29 centimeters. That’s now the third-best mark in program history and just off of Tori Farr’s mark of 5.52 meters from 2017.
Sarpong added a third in the open 100 (12.89) and lost a photo finish to end up fourth in the 200 (27.00).
Platte County’s long-distance runners also bunched solid finishes to offset strong showings from Grain Valley, which finished second in the final team standings with 176 1/2. The Pirates ended up with 202.
Platte County senior Emily Huehl takes the baton from fellow senior Madelyn Stewart in the 4×800-meter relay during the Suburban Conference White Division Championships on Tuesday at Fort Osage High School in Independence.
In the 800, Huehl’s 2:27.35 set a PR and topped the tight finish between the first four runners with Platte County senior Addie Ayers edged out for third. She finished fourth in 2:28.69 — another season-best and just off her top time of 2:27.15 from conference a year earlier.
Platte County freshman Carlie Baker ran a breakout PR to finish second in the 1,600 (5:44.85) and came back to place third in the 3,200 (12:40.66), just behind Platte County sophomore and runnerup Tyler Stambersky (12:09.63).
Those finishes were possible in part due to a comfortable and relaxed victory in the 4×800, a race with only three entrants. The Pirates used Huehl, Ayers, Stambersky and senior Madelyn Stewart and needed to run only a 10:30.63 to beat Grain Valley by 49 full seconds.
Stewart also continued a recent breakout in the shorter middle-distance race, clocking a 1:02.76, another PR in her second start of the season. She finished a close second to William Chrisman senior Priscilla Plaisime (1:02.28).
Platte County didn’t use the recent breakout combination in the 4×400 with freshman Mary Dellinger not available due to a conflicting soccer game. The Pirates finished second in 4:20.68 with a combination of Stewart, Huehl, Ayers and Carr.
Just four days earlier, the combination of Stewart, Huehl, Dellinger and Wagner ran a 4:03.95 — the third-fastest time in Platte County history.
In addition to Carr and Kern, Platte County also produced a conference title in the triple jump with freshman Rylee Dishman going 10.17 meters in the triple jump. She has now produced scoring marks of 10.17, 10.18 and 10.19 in a late-season push.
Platte County senior Malin Cole also medaled third in the javelin at 32.40 meters. She came out on top of a bunched finish behind the top two that also included junior Kelly Bullano (fifth, 32.00 meters) and senior Ashleigh Cruce (seventh, 31.79 meters).
Up next, Platte County travels to the Class 5 District 8 meet this Saturday at Liberty North High School with the top four in each event advancing on to sectionals. Benninghoff (100 hurdles), Bullano (javelin) and Ayers (4×800) are the only previous state qualifiers on the roster. Bullano placed fifth as a freshman, while Ayers ran a medal-winning relay as a sophomore.
