Unsurprisingly, Platte County’s three most experienced but still young runners led the way in Saturday’s Class 5 District 4 race at Lee’s Summit North High School in Lee’s Summit. However, the Pirates were only able to piece together an 11th-place team finish in an extremely competitive field.
A year ago, Platte County came in eighth after a shift up from Class 4, but a key injury and roster turnover led to a postseason lineup with just one senior this season. Tyler Stambersky, a junior, provided the highlight for the Pirates after becoming a three-time state qualifier with a 17th-place showing (19 minutes, 51.04 seconds).
Stambersky posted the second-fastest time of her season, also going under 20 minutes for the second time in seven starts. She ran significantly faster than a year ago in Class 5 District 4 on the same course, when she placed 24th.
The top four teams plus any other individuals in the top 30 advanced to this weekend’s Class 5 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships races scheduled for Saturday at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.
Platte County didn’t have any other individuals near the state cut line with sophomore Mary Dellinger (49th, 21:54.02) and Carlie Baker (51st, 21:57.01) the next contributors to a team score of 260. They were in their second career district race.
Dellinger made just her fifth start of the season while balancing a club soccer schedule and took a step back in individual placement from 2025 when she came in 39th at 21:03.98. Baker ran significantly faster than she did a year ago when she finished 65th in 22:25.92.
Platte County senior Alex Yurko, junior Kensington Sturdy and freshmen Claire Babcock and Lane Keraus all made postseason debuts and posted bunched finishes. Babcock (75th, 23:29.61) and Sturdy (76th, 23:35.24) rounded out the Pirates’ team total to conclude strong first seasons in the lineup, while Keraus (77th, 23:38.64) and Yurko (79th, 23:56.78) were right behind.
None of Platte County’s seven runners posted a season-best or PR time in the race.
Stambersky prepares for a sixth career race at Gans Creek, having posted her season-best of 19:32.90 there in the Gans Creek Classic back in late September. She earned all-state honors there as a freshman in Class 4 (16th) but did not finish her Class 5 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships debut a year ago due to an issue with her blood sugar that forced her off the course early.
Platte County ended up with only three returners from last year’s postseason lineup, and Stambersky remains the only one with prior state experience. The Pirates lost junior Maddie Fuller to a shin injury, and she never ran a race this fall.
