A unique format put more emphasis on relays, and Platte County benefitted from improving depth Friday at Jefferson City High School. The Licklider Relays didn’t include the traditional 400-meter and 800-meter races and tested the ability to build effective combinations.
Platte County continued to narrow down preferred options, winning the two distance relays and coming in third in the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400 races.
In the opening 4×800, Platte County’s team of seniors Alexia Myer and Maddie Nichols plus juniors Emily Huehl and Addie Ayers turned in a season-best of 10 minutes, 8.56 seconds while continuing to build rapport after losing the two fastest legs from state-medal winning quartet from a year ago. Ayers went to the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships each of the past two years in the event, while the rest of the team is made up of recent transfers — Myer in her second season while Huehl and Nichols both in their first.
Huehl earned Class 1A all-state honors in Kansas as a sophomore in the open 800.
Myer, Nichols, Ayers and junior Maddie Stewart helped Platte County win the 4,000-meter distance medley. Myer took the 400, Ayers the 800, Stewart the 1,200 and Nichols the 1,600 in the rarely featured event. Those two victories helped the Pirates put up 112 team points, finishing behind only host and champion Jefferson City (145) and Francis Howell (116 1/2).
The distance success extended to the 1,600 with Stewart just off her PR while finishing second (5:44.06), and Platte County freshman Tyler Stambersky made her first career start in the event and placed third (5:48.12). Stambersky came back later to give the Pirates a runnerup showing in the 3,200 at 12:34.71.
Platte County came up just short of season-bests in both sprint relays plus the 4×400 while looking at different combinations. In the 4×100, the Pirates went with junior Rylee Carr, known more for the long jump and triple jump, plus sophomores Maggie Wagner, Maggie Davis and Kelly Bullano, the school-record holder in the javelin.
The third-place time of 52.04 was a little more than a half second off Platte County’s fastest time this spring from a week earlier in the Kearney Classic Invitational.
Davis and Wagner were also on Platte County’s 4×200 with junior hurdler Adi Benninghoff and sophomore sprinter/pole vaulter Adi Kerrn. The Pirates were third in 1:49.50.
Platte County’s third-place 4×400 of Myer, Kern, Huehl and Davis featured an intriguing mix of middle distance and sprinters that posted a time of 4:20.69 with this year’s prior best from a week earlier just faster at 4:20.21.
In addition to one relay, Benninghoff also posted a season-best 15.55 in the prelims of the 100 hurdles and then finished as runnerup at 16.16 in a final that was much slower overall.
Bullano came away with Platte County’s only other first-place finish, winning the javelin competition at 37.36 meters. The Pirates’ strength in throws showed with senior Addy Schlake coming in third in the discus (37.84 meters) a year after setting the school record in the event at the same meet.
Platte County’s fourth-place finishes in field events included Schlake (shot put, 10.56 meters), Wagner (long jump, PR of 5.05 meters) and Kern (pole vault, 2.74 meters).
