Platte County added a relay to its Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships’ qualifying contingent this past weekend in Columbia, Mo.
Now with three events qualified, the Pirates were 11th out of 19 varsity teams in the COMO Invitational with 82 points. The highlight came with Bailey Newell, Rachel Valentine, Hailee Baer and Hannah Havemeier posting a time of 1 minute, 58.86 seconds in the preliminaries of the 200-yard medley relay at the Mizzou Aquatic Center.
That puts the event through to state for a second straight year after Valentine, Baer, Havemeier and Lauren Earnest made the cut a year ago. Earnest is currently out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery.
Havemeier and Valentine have Platte County’s other two state cuts so far this season, both in the 100 breaststroke.
The medley relay qualified for the finals seventh and finished seventh in 2:00.88. Valentine made the A final and finished eighth in the 100 breaststroke, narrowly beating Havemeier for the final spot. Havemeier won the B final.
Kansas City Classic
Park Hill finished a distant second to Lincoln Southwest (Neb.) in the Kansas City Classic’s final 16-team standings Saturday, Jan. 17 in Independence, Mo. The Trojans scored 211 points but were more than 300 behind the champions.
Nani Welsh placed third in the 100 freestyle for Park Hill, coming in behind two swimmers from Lincoln Southwest. The Trojans were second in the 200 freestyle relay with the team of Welsh, Rebecca Shaw, Meg Feeley and Brooklynn Pierce a little more than 6 seconds back of the winners, also from Lincoln Southwest.
Raymore-Peculiar quad
Platte County narrowly missed a sweep of dual matchups Tuesday, Jan. 12 in Raymore, Mo.
Winners in five of 11 events, the Pirates beat Harrisonville and Smith-Cotton but were topped 77-74 by the hosts. Platte County also just missed a sweep of the relays with Newell, Valentine, Baer and Havemeier winning the 200 medley relay, while Olivia Forrester, Baer, Valentine and Havemeier were the winning team in the 200 freestyle relay.
Valentine won the 100 butterfly (1:11.48) and 100 breaststroke (1:13.10), while Baer bested the 500 freestyle relay field (6:00.80).
Liberty triangular
Park Hill edged both Liberty and Liberty North in duals Tuesday, Jan. 12 in Liberty, Mo., winning of 7 of 12 events. The Trojans won 158-147 against Liberty North and 157-143 against Liberty. Feeley won both the 50 freestyle (26.99) and 500 freestyle (5:48.74). She also swam on the victorious 200 medley relay with Welsh, Sophia Lane and Shaw and the 400 freestyle relay with Jenee Hensley, Pierce and Shaw.
Welsh also collected two individual wins in the 100 butterfly (1:04.79) and 100 breaststroke (1:12.85) in addition to the spot on the medley relay. Shaw took the 100 backstroke win in 1:04.86 in addition to the two relay spots.