Wolfe fueling rapid rebuild, wins conference title in discus, 4×100 for 2nd-place Platte County

Cameron Wolfe adapts, adjusts and perseveres, a leader by example during a difficult transition upward.

In Wednesday’s Suburban Conference White Division Championships, Platte County’s senior leader continued his varied and diverse event list and nearly propelled the Pirates to a team championship. He placed first in the discus and also ran the third leg on a reformed, rejuvenated and speedy 4×100-meter relay that recorded an impressively comfortable victory.

Platte County ended up totaling exactly 100 points and finished runnerup to champion Grain Valley (126) at William Chrisman High School in Independence.

However, Wolfe in particular takes some momentum in to this weekend’s Class 5 District 8 meet. He continues to sit just behind his career-best in the discus and waited his turn to contribute to a recently historic group of sprint relays for Platte County. Each of the past two seasons, the Pirates set a school record in the event, and this year’s quartet of senior Garrett Smith-Dean, junior Jordan Burnett, Wolfe and newly installed freshman anchor Jackson Goodale ran a faster time at conference than both the 2021 and 2022 units.

Wolfe also runs the open 200 and has contributed to the 4×200 but didn’t run the event at conference. Don’t expect to hear him complain. No one spends more time being a fan of his teammates and their accomplishments than Wolfe.

Don’t underestimate the difference Wolfe makes as a standout thrower, either. At conference, he delivered a winning effort of 43.03 meters in the discus to easily outdistance William Chrisman’s Austin Downey for the White Division title. That marked a season-best and sits just a little more than a half meter behind his career-best of 43.60 from early in his junior season. This marked his fourth effort of better than 43 meters during the past two seasons.

Platte County’s 4×100 blazed to a season-best 42.90 seconds with a new order. Wolfe had spent time as the opener out of the blocks but shifted to the third leg where he handed to Goodale, a breakout performer as a freshman who brought the baton home and beat William Chrisman by more than a second.

Notably, the time sits just .06 of a second off of the school record Trevor Scott, Cole Rhoden, Nate Walls and Victor Sewankambo set last year at 42.84 while placing sixth in the Class 5 Missouri State Track and Field Championships. That group included three graduated seniors, while offseason shoulder surgery kept Walls from competing this season.

Smith-Dean, now starting in the blocks, ran on the Class 4 state qualifying team that set a school record in 2021 but was not on the roster at the end of last season. Wolfe, Burnett and Goodale have teamed up with him to quickly rebuild this unit into another state contender.

In fact, Goodale (11.32), Smith-Dean (11.36) and Burnett (11.37) showed Platte County’s sprint depth by placing fourth through sixth in the open 100. That has become critical for the Pirates minus Sewankambo, a standout and current Division I runner at UMKC after serving as anchor the past two seasons.

Burnett and Smith-Dean both set PRs in the process, while Goodale was just off the mark of 11.24 he set in a freshman meet earlier this season. He ran the open 100 for just the third time.

Platte County competes in Class 5 — the largest in the state — for a second straight year making sectional and state qualification more difficult than past seasons. The top four on Saturday at districts move on to Sectional 4 where the top four finishers from the District 8 and District 7 qualifiers go on to state. The conference meet provided the final preview of the entrants and postseason contenders for the Pirates.

Of the other four conference titles for Platte County, three involved involved junior Andrew Johnson, who swept the 1,600 and 3,200 and ran a leg on the first-place 4×800 relay with seniors Ryan McCoy and Gavin Jenks plus fellow junior Kade Meinke. The Pirates finished top-two in all four relays, including another win in the 4×200, and also received strong field performances from Smith-Dean (long jump) and senior Dom Spears (triple jump) plus third-place finishes in the 110 and 300 hurdles from sophomore Caden McGhee.

Burnett, McGhee, Goodale and senior Aaron Cordova were first place in the 4×200 at a season-best 1:30.23 to just edge out Grain Valley and again show potential with a unique group. McGhee has mostly contributed in hurdles in his one-plus-season, while Goodale and Cordova have both been somewhat unexpected infusions of talent.

While Goodale has blossomed as a freshman, Cordova joined the team after moving back to Platte County for his senior year. He played soccer for the Pirates as a freshman, helping lead them to the best state finish in program history (second, Class 3) but had little to no track experience.

Cordova and Goodale were also on Platte County’s runnerup 4×400 with sophomores Josh Fraker and Brayden Eschliman — two more breakout first-year contributors. The Pirates finished in 3:35.92. Fraker also set a PR in the 400, placing fourth in 51.83 and shaving more than a half second off his previous best from this season of 52.34.

Smith-Dean and Spears have also provided a boost in the jumping events.

Adding long jump to sprints, Smith-Dean has quickly adapted to his field event and placed second at conference at 6.26 meters — just off the best mark of his career set 11 days earlier at 6.39 meters. Spears set PRs in both the long jump (6.21 meters, fifth) and triple jump (12.49 meters, second). He had not participate in either event since his sophomore season and has only long jumped twice and triple jumped three times this season.

In the triple jump, Spears hit a mark of 12.43 at the recent Liberty North Invitational and then slightly bettered that in nearly capturing a conference title. He came in just 8 centimeters behind Grain Valley’s Anthony Burch.

Platte County’s lineup came together at the right time to nearly topple Grain Valley. In an effort to maximize points, Johnson loaded up the long-distance duties and turned in a memorable day. He anchored the 4×800 to first in a season-best 8:26.48.

Johnson then placed first in the 1,600 in a comfortable 4:32.72 to top Grain Valley’s Rylan Smith then came in as runnerup to Smith in the 800. Johnson ran 2:04.03, while McCoy gave Platte County more points with a third-place showing (2:05.48). The Pirates likely could have challenged Grain Valley more if junior Connor Currence had been available, but he will miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture. He turned in the team’s best 800 time this season at 2:02.13 and would have added depth to the 4×800 and also contributed in the 1,600.

With Currence out, Johnson also endured the 3,200 late in the meet and ran 9:51.60 — winning by moree then 25 seconds but also not challenging his season-best. He will now go into districts likely to pursue only specific events and possibly not run on the 4×800 until sectionals should the Pirates advance.

McGhee returned from a recent knee injury and just missed his career-best times in both hurdle events. He stayed sub-16 in the 110s for the third time in three tries this season at 15.97 (15.75 PR) and then sub-44 in the 300s for the third time in three tries at 43.78 (43.59 PR).

In Class 5 for just the second time, Platte County does not have any athletes on the roster to qualify for Sectional 4 at that level. Smith-Dean and senior Carter Salzman, who is only pole vaulting, were on the state qualifying 4×100 in Class 4 as sophomores. Salzman also went to Class 4 Sectional 4 in pole vault and on the 4×200 in 2021.