Platte County showed impressive depth — from seniors down to freshmen — and dominated a season-opening triangular with St. Joseph Central and Savannah. The Pirates won seven of 12 events last week on the campus of Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.
In fact, Platte County won both the 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relays and had two different quartets in each race post consideration times for the Class 1 Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships. In addition, senior all-state swimmer Shannon Banark (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly), sophomore Drew DeLay (200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke) and senior Maddie Klippenstein (100 breaststroke) also posted individual state consideration times.
Swimmers who post a automatic state time are guaranteed a postseason berth, while consideration times are used to fill any open spots. Many of Platte County’s events making consideration times will be chasing those auto berths in the coming weeks.
“Normally, our girls would not perform so well in a first meet and a notoriously slow pool, but they were ready to race,” Platte County coach Marnie Jenkins said.
Banark (100 butterfly), Klippenstein (100 breaststroke), freshman Brooklynn Hays (200 individual medley), Avery Nix (500 freestyle) and Erian Stone (100 backstroke) were the individual winners for Platte County. Banark posted a time of 1 minute, 3.70 seconds in the butterfly to finish a little more than 7 seconds ahead of Hays for the top spot, while Hays’ time of 2:30.61 in the IM bettered Central’s Emma Brownfield by more than 15 seconds.
Banark and DeLay were second and third in the 200 freestyle, while Klippenstein and Delay were separated by about a second in a 1-2 breaststroke finish. Klippenstein was second in the 50 freestyle in her other individual event.
Platte County’s relays impressed even without the full roster available.
The A medley team of Banark, Klippenstein, Hays and DeLay finished first in 1:59.14 — about a second off of an auto cut. The B team of Maddie Kunz, Ella Chiddix, Sage Nichols and Stone were third in 2:15.50 to make a consideration time. The Pirates’ A 200 freestyle team of Banark, Klippenstein, Hays and Delay were first in 1:50.37, while the fourth-place team of Emilia Wisniewski, Lauren Beatty, Stone and Kunz posted a 2:02.60 consideration time.
Platte County was originally scheduled to participate in the Winnetonka Invitational over the weekend, but the hosts pared down the field, which ended up not including the Pirates. This Saturday, the Platte County Invitational will welcome Park Hill South, Smithville and St. Pius X to the YMCA Community Center North for a reduced quad. Typically, Platte County hosts 12 to 15 teams, but the field was reduced due to ongoing concerns related to the pandemic.
