Platte County fielded a much more complete team on the track Thursday in the Falcon Relays. Even with the throwers split off to a separate meet, the Pirates won a pair of relays and came away with the team title in a loaded field full of top Class 5 programs.
Haley Luna, a senior, made her season debut while fellow senior Bryn McGehe competed in the open 800-meter for the first time. Luna and McGehe teamed with senior Abbie Schwieder and sophomore Meah Salzman to win the 4×400 relay to close the meet. The Pirates finished in 4 minutes, 17.86 seconds to beat Liberty North by more than two seconds.
Luna, McGehe and Schwieder were on Platte County’s school record 4×400 relay two years ago (4:01.65) and will hope to push that mark by the end of the year.
McGehe, fellow seniors Aly Anderson and Jenna Jurgensmeyer and freshman Sisely Mitchell opened the running events with a victory for Platte County in the 4×800. The Pirates ran a 10:13.98 to beat Liberty by about 7 1/2 seconds.
The winning relay members also turned in top individual performances for Platte County.
Luna also placed second in the 400 at 1:02.94 behind Staley senior Chloe Saenz. Luna owns the school record in the 400 and finished second in the Class 4 Missouri State Track and Field Championships as a sophomore. After being held out of the season-opener, she will be looking to move back under 1 minute and toward her school record time of 57.97.
McGehe led a 3-4-6 finish for Platte County in the 800, posting her first time of the season in the event at 2:34.15 with Mitchell (2.36.53) and Jurgensmeyer (2:42.16) right behind.
Salzman also continued the strong start to her career after missing her freshman season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was second in the 300 hurdles at 50.87 and third in the 100 hurdles at 17.35. Pirates senior Zaya Dove was fourth in the shorter hurdles race at 17.54 to score even more key team points.
Finally, Schwieder and junior teammate Maya Sullivan continued to show why pole vault will be a huge event for Platte County this season. They took turns setting the school record In the Pirates’ first meet of the season finished 2-3 again behind Liberty standout Rachel Homoly, who put up a winning vault of 3.82 meters.
Schwieder was second at 3.35 meters, just a half meter off her school record, while Sullivan was third at 3.20 meters. Sullivan competed as a freshman at Park Hill South and holds the school record there and briefly held the Platte County school record before being surpassed by Schwieder on the same night.
Platte County sophomore Reese Pickett, like Salzman a debutante, placed second in the high jump (1.57 meters) and third in the long jump (4.79 meters). Olivia Minter, a sectional qualifier as a sophomore, was fourth in the long jump at 4.68 meters.
Platte County also received a top-five showing from Molly McBratney in the in the 200 (fifth, 28.91).
With the throwers at Platte County’s own Flight Night the same night, the result was even more impressive with competition including Staley, Liberty, Liberty North and Park Hill. The Pirates didn’t have an individual victory in the other competition but had the runnerup in all three events — sophomore TK Lawson (shot put, 9.78 meters) and sophomore Jules Knudsen (discus, 28.47 meters and javelin, 27.24 meters).
Basehor-Linwood and Kearney were the other teams at Flight Night.
