JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Both of Platte County’s qualifiers for the Class 5 MSHAA Track and Field Championships achieved the broadscale objective, even if there were higher goals. For senior Addy Schlake, a seventh-place medal in the discus came with a sense of closure and finality, while junior Adi Benninghoff can come back to chase a school record that remained elusively out of reach.
Platte County junior Adi Benninghoff competes in the 100-meter hurdles final during the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships on Saturday at Jefferson City High School in Jefferson City.
Schlake made the podium at Jefferson City High School on Friday in a third trip to state, while Benninghoff finished eighth in Saturday’s 100-meter hurdles final in a 14.95 seconds, another .02 closer to Jan Herndon’s 1983 time that still stands as the fastest for the event in program history.
“Amazing,” Schlake said. “This has been a goal for me since I was a freshman, and senior year, it finally came true. … Knowing that’s the way it ended, I couldn’t be disappointed at all.”
“I’m just happy to be in the final. Top eight, that was my goal,” Benninghoff said after receiving her state medal. “It felt good.”
Schlake ended a decorated career as the first Platte County athlete to make three trips to state at the Class 5 level in an individual event. However, the first two ended in different levels of disappointment and set up a pivotal preliminary flight Friday afternoon.
On the first of three attempts, Schlake recorded a distance of 38.39 meters to immediately sit in third place and qualify for the finals. Her fifth throw of 38.44 ended up being her mark of record, good for seventh overall after Jackson senior Emerson Gross passed her in the sixth and final round of throws.
Schlake fouled the final attempt but left the discus ring with a smile knowing the state medal had already been secured.
Platte County senior Addy Schlake takes an attempt in the discus during the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships on Friday at Jefferson City High School in Jefferson City.
“I was excited, and I definitely accomplished what I wanted to,” she said.
Schlake entered with the No. 2 qualifying mark out of sectionals but took nothing for granted.
In two prior trips to state, Schlake threw 35.39 meters as a sophomore and 35.11 meters last season to come up short of her season-best on three preliminary throws and missed the finals, which takes the top nine and gives each competitor three more attempts. The highs and lows of Schlake’s career seemed to all come at Jefferson City High School. She set a school record as a junior in the Licklider Relays at 41.57 meters but didn’t approach that mark again until hitting 41.18 meters at the Class 5 Sectional 4 meet a week before state.
The final trip to Missouri’s capital city resulted in the podium finish that concluded her track and field career before she goes to the University of North Dakota to play Division I softball.
“The first two trips I was just so stoked to be here, and this being my third and final year, I really locked in,” said Schlake, who recorded a season-best of 33.02 at districts as a freshman before going over 36 meters as a sophomore on the way to filling out the most accomplished discus career in Platte County history. “That was my goal to be on the podium, and I knew that I was going to get it.”
Benninghoff made a second straight trip to state in the 100 hurdles and advanced out of the preliminaries for the first time but not before overcoming some early adversity. The spindly framed athlete ran into a strong headwind Friday and finished in 15.49 — well off the career-best she set a week earlier in a runnerup finish at sectionals.
Platte County junior looks down at her eighth-place state medal after the 100-meter hurdles final during the Class 5 MSHSAA Track and Field Championships at Jefferson City High School in Jefferson City.
However, Benninghoff narrowly took the eighth and final qualifying spot for Saturday’s final over Nixa sophomore Alexandra Doulova (15.58).
“I was on the edge. I was seeded ninth,” Benninghoff said. “I had no idea. Anything could happen. The wind is obviously a big factor in that.”
In much more favorable conditions on Saturday, Benninghoff still ended up eighth but came across the line in 14.95 seconds, going under 15 seconds for the second time in her career. A week earlier, she finished second at Class 5 Sectional 4 in 14.97.
Benninghoff actually set a PR in each of the final three meets of the season but remained tantalizingly close to taking down the oldest track school record still on the books, although modern standards might actually make her faster than Herndon’s mark of 14.93 set in 1983. In the era of fully automated timing (FAT), handheld marks generally require an adjustment of rounding to the nearest tenth of a second and adding 0.24.
With an eighth-place Class 5 medal in hand, Benninghoff can now come back next year to continue the chase and more all-state honors.
“Very frustrating that I’m .02 off of it my final race of the season, so that’s kind of frustrating, but I’m proud that I’ve came this far this season so I’m happy,” she said.
Impressively, Benninghoff continues to carve out a steady path of progression. As a freshman, she started with a 19.17 finish in her first junior varsity meet and broke out with a 16.83 at a freshmen-only meet before becoming a varsity fixture.
Benninghoff posted a PR of 16.50 in her first season then lowered that to 15.35 at last year’s state meet, a week after she sneaked out of Class 5 Sectional 4 with a fourth-place finish. Her prelim time as a sophomore left her just outside the finals.
“I’m always trying to get faster. That’s my main goal,” Benninghoff said. “Get that record. That’s all I’m shooting for.”
