Braiden Stevens, Adam Gisler, Ty Christopher and Adeboye Akande nearly hit school-record form Friday.
Platte County juniors Braiden Stevens, Adam Gisler, Adeboye Akande and Ty Christopher won the 4×100-meter relay during the Ron Ives Invitational on Friday at Liberty High School.
Most impressively, Platte County’s junior quartet of speedsters impressively did so in the season-opening Ron Ives Invitational at Liberty High School and in relatively cold conditions. The Pirates finished first in the 4×100-meter relay at 42.71 seconds — the only team in the field to run sub-43.
The unit returns intact after setting Platte County’s school record last spring at Class 5 Sectional 4, which turned out to be the final race of the season. The mark of 42.56 survives for now, but Stevens, Gisler, Christopher and Akande didn’t approach this level until the final weeks of the schedule a year go but now have the second-fastest time in program history after just one meet.
In addition, Platte County’s 4×200 team of seniors Frailyn Lene and Josh Fraker, junior Jackson Goodale and freshman Cassius Guillory finished second (1:31.82), behind only Staley (1:29.11).
Stevens added a runnerup showing in the 100 at 10.92 with Staley senior Robert Collins the winner (10.66). He set a personal-best of 10.89 in last year’s Suburban Conference White Division Championships while becoming just the fifth in program history to run sub-11 seconds, and Friday marked the second time for him to do so.
Platte County senior Josh Fraker runs in the 400-meter race during the Ron Ives Invitational on Friday at Liberty High School in Liberty.
Christopher finished fifth in the 100, setting a PR at 11.20.
Fraker recorded Platte County’s only individual victory in the 400 in a career-best 49.44, which according to available records ranks fifth in school history. He ran the open race just four times last year with his best mark coming at conference (51.64), and he had never ran sub-51 in his career prior to Friday.
The Ron Ives Invitational also included a fifth relay, the nontraditional 1,600 sprint medley relay. The race consists of two 200s, a 400 and an 800, and the Pirates’ team of Stevens, Christopher, Goodale and Fraker finished first in 3:33.90, topping Liberty North by more than 6 full seconds.
Stevens and Christopher ran the shortest legs, while Goodale took the 400 and Fraker the 800.
Still not with a full strength roster to start the season, Platte County’s best finish in a field event came from sophomore Kyler Parker, who set a personal-best of 41.58 meters to finish fifth in the discus.
