The depth of the Ken Peek Invitational showed in some of the notable individual results.
Platte County senior Maddie Nichols runs in the 1,600-meter race of the Ken Peek Invitational on Friday at Liberty North High School in Liberty.
Platte County senior Alexia Myer (800 meters) and freshman Tyler Stambersky (3,200 meters) both recorded career-bests in their best event, while the 4×100-meter relay of sophomores Vanessa Sarpong, Maggie Wagner, Maggie Davis and Adi Kern posted the season-best time on a windy Friday at Liberty North High School in Liberty. None of them were in the top 10.
However, Platte County did total 32 1/2 points and finished ninth out of 22 teams in the final standings. The Pirates only had two of four relays in scoring position, totaling three points (seventh-place 4×800, eighth-place 4×200).
Platte County junior Adi Benninghoff continued to lower her career-best in the 100 hurdles and placed third in 15.32, a week after going 15.55 in the Licklider Relays preliminaries at Jefferson City High School. She led a trio of top-10 placers for the Pirates in the event with Wagner also scoring points (seventh, career-best 17.06) and junior Heaven Jale right behind (ninth, 17.19).
Returning to the full unique event lineup of previous years, Platte County senior Addy Schlake recorded a breakout performance in her season-debut in high jump. She finished in a five-way tie for third at 1.52 meters and shared fifth place with Liberty North junior Laney Timmerberg. That ties a career-best height she hit once each in her junior and sophomore campaigns.
Schlake added a third-place finish in the discus (36.37 meters), remaining consistent on distance as a senior but still yet to approach the school record of 41.57 meters posted as a junior. She also competed in shot put.
In addition to relay legs, Kern led a four-way tie for seventh in pole vault at 2.87 meters. The Pirates were strong in field events with sophomore Kelly Bullano ninth in the javelin, despite an off day by her school-record standers. She finished ninth and did not score points with a distance of 33.5 meters.
Platte County’s combination of Schlake, Bullano, junior Ashleigh Cruce and freshman Millie Parker won the non-scored throwers’ 4×101-meter relay with the prize a box of doughnuts. The Pirates finished in 58.03.
Myer (12th, 2:27.80) finished just in front of junior teammate Emily Huehl in the 800, while Stambersky (11th, 12:22.71) just missed the top 10 in the 3,200. Platte County’s 4×100 also came in 11th at 51.24, while the 4×200 of the same sophomore quartet of Wagner, Davis, Sarpong and Kern was eighth in 1:48.98, about a second off the season-best. The Pirates’ 4×800 was their top relay, coming seventh at 10:17.99 with a combination of senior Maddie Nichols, juniors Addie Ayers and Maddie Stewart and sophomore Lillian Talbot.
