Platte County juniors Andrew Johnson and Connor Currence already find themselves at their individual best at the beginning of the season.
In their first non-relay action of the spring, Johnson won the 3,200-meters and placed third in the 1,600-meters, while Currence topped the 800-meter field in Thursday’s Kearney Classic Invitational. They set career-best times in all three races, leading the Pirates to third place in a crowded top four in the team standings — just one point in front of fourth-place Smithville.
Platte County’s deep long-distance team continued to look strong after seeing success in the season-opening Falcon Relays. Even without Currence and Johnson, the Pirates’ 4×800 relay team of seniors Gavin Jenks and Ryan McCoy, junior Kade Meinke and sophomore Zack McCall came in second (8 minutes, 40.95 seconds) to Kearney in a finish decided by about a second and a half.
Johnson then led a 3-4-5 showing for Platte County in the 1,600, and his time of 4:29.78 set a personal-best by about 16 seconds. Meinke came in fourth (4:44.64) and freshman Blake Herron followed in fifth (4:48.25). Those were also career-low times with Meinke down 15 seconds from his top performance as a sophomore.
Currence cruised to a win by more than 2 seconds in the 800, and he nearly broke 2:02 for the first time in his career. The time of 2:02.13 marked the lowest of his three sub-2:03 performances.
In the 3,200, Johnson went sub-10 minutes for the first time in impressive fashion. He finished in 4:45.79 — about 25 seconds better than his fifth-place Class 5 District 8 time as a sophomore — and beat Warrensburg junior Julian McNeil to the line by more than 30 seconds.
Platte County also tinkered with the other relay lineups, and Currence ran on the 4×400 with senior Aaron Cordova and sophomores Brayden Eschliman and Josh Fraker. The Pirates struggled in the event a year ago and have gone to entirely new looks to start the season, winning Thursday’s race in 3:31.73.
With limited experience thus far, Fraker ran a career-best 52.34 in the open 400 to place fifth and easily better his 2022 season-best of 55.51.
Platte County’s 4×100 featured seniors Cameron Wolfe and Garrett Smith-Dean, junior Jordan Burnett and sophomore Caden McGhee, a hurdle specialist as a freshman. The quartet placed third in 43.72 at the end of a bunched top three that included Park Hill South (43.52) and Lincoln Prep (43.65). McGhee also placed second in the 110 hurdles (15.75) and 300 hurdles (43.59). He’s put up career-best times in all four of his hurdle races this season, showing substantial improvement from his solid freshman year.
Smith-Dean, a state qualifier as a sophomore in the 4×100, returns to the roster this season after being away from the team much of last spring. He also has added long jump and recorded a victory in the event Thursday with a career-best effort of 6.22 meters. He tied with Smtihville junior Max McKenzie but earned first on the tiebreaker of next best jump. Platte County senior Day McClure came in fourth at 6.01 meters, 14 centimeters of his career-best set earlier this year at the Falcon Relays.
Platte County’s 4×200 relay finished fourth in 1:34.84 with a quartet of freshmen — Adam Eisler, Tres Baskerville, Jackson Goodale and Ty Christopher.
Like Smith-Dean, Platte County senior Carter Salzman went to state in the 4×100 as a sophomore but has run limited sprints since that time due to nagging hamstring injuries. However, he continues to compete in pole vault and placed fourth in his season-debut with a career-best height of 3.51 meters. He was part of a three-way tie for third and wound up fourth after the tiebreakers but went 1 centimeter higher than his fifth-place Class 5 District 8 performance from 2022 in the process.
Kearney Throwers Meet
Platte County returned to Kearney on Monday afternoon in a small meet limited to just shot put and discus after heavy rains earlier in the day led to the cancelation of the javelin. Wolfe, also off to a fast start in the open 200 and sprint relays, provided the Pirates’ lone top-five showing, placing fifth in the discus with a season-best 41.95 meters. He has improved his distance in all three meets so far this season but remains about a meter and a half off of his PR from early last season.
