Platte County seemed to benefit from experience with the level of competition in Class 5 District 4 in this season’s return — no one more so than breakout junior Tate Stone. The Pirates also built some more familiarity with a still-developing roster.
With just two seniors in the lineup, Platte County finished seventh in Saturday’s race at Lee’s Summit North High School in Lee’s Summit — down just one spot from sixth a year ago in another very respectable showing for one of the smallest program’s in Class 5.
The top four teams and any other individual in the top 30 advanced to state, and Stone earned one of the coveted spots, placing 21st in 16 minutes, 44.49 seconds.
Platte County junior Evan Backer — a first-year runner — missed the cut for the Class 5 MSHSAA Cross Country Championships by the slimmest of margins. He placed 31st in 16:54.70 and ended up just over a second out of earning the final individual state berth.
There were 16 teams in the field, and Platte County finished with the second-best spread between the five runners contributing to the team score at 55 seconds, ranking behind only team champion Blue Springs South’s 50 seconds between the runnerup and 13th place.
Stone again led the way for Platte County to continue a strong surge to close the season. He ended up just off the PR of 16:30.00 he set earlier this season at the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia on the Gans Creek Cross Country Course that hosts Saturday’s Class 5 state race. The Pirates’ team total of 172 ended up just four points out of sixth and nine away from fifth-place Liberty.
One of four returners from Platte County’s 2025 postseason lineup tasked with the move up from Class 4, Stone ran nearly 30 seconds faster on the same district course after he placed 48th as a sophomore. He gave the Pirates a single state qualifier for a second straight year after Blake Herron led the way in his final season.
Backer nearly gave Platte County a second when he finished in under 17 minutes for the third time this season with the third-fastest time of his breakout debut season.
Like Stone, Platte County senior Nick Flowers (35th, 17:02.35) and junior Landon McKinzie (36th, 17:02.42) finished back-to-back with significantly faster times than a year ago on the same district course. Josiah O’Rourke, another junior, made his postseason debut for the Pirates in the third race of his career after a knee injury suffered in soccer kept him out of the lineup for the majority of this fall.
O’Rourke posted a PR of 17:40.15, bettering the mark of 18:09.70 from just over a week earlier in the Suburban Conference White Division Championships. All three of his starts were this season.
In addition to Flowers, Townsend ran the final race of his career after an injury-plagued two seasons at Platte County following a transfer from Glendale. He went out with a PR of 18:24.91 (75th place) in his first and only postseason race with the Pirates.
Running at districts for a second straight year, Platte County sophomore Haddon Newsome finished one spot behind Townsend in 76th at 18:25.08, well of the PR of 17:12.40 he set at the Gans Creek Classic. He posted the first three sub-18 minute times of his career this season.
Platte County went into this season with only McKinzie and senior Jacoby Keith as the only returning state qualifiers. Both when at as part of a qualifying team in 2024 that placed fifth overall and nearly won a second straight Class 4 team trophy after the Pirates were runnersup in 2023. Keith missed the final portion of this season due to a foot injury and ahdn’t run in the postseason since his sophomore year.
Stone likely needs to significantly lower his career-best time to give Platte County a first all-state finisher since having two in 2024. The top-30 cutoff in Class 5 last season ended up at 16:02.20.
