Platte County will once again have representation at the Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships in St. Peters, Mo. come February. Hannah Havemeier met the qualifying standard while winning the 100-yard breaststroke on Sat. Dec. 13 at the Winnetonka Holiday Classic in Independence, Mo. Her time of 1 minute, 11.95 seconds came in a second and a half faster than second-place Kelly Blunt of Warrensburg (1:13.48) and a half second under the required time needed for state qualification (1:12.49). She is the first Platte County girls swimmer to make a state time since 2002.
Havemeier led a trio of swimmers to earn a top-10 finish in the race for Platte County. Olivia Forrester (sixth, 1:16.72) and Rachel Valentine (eighth, 1:17.08) also earned valuable points for the Pirates in a 25-team field.
Platte County placed fourth with 204 points — 80 behind winner Lee’s Summit North (284) and nine points behind third-place Summit Prep (213), a small Missouri State High School Activities Association-affiliated school in Springfield, Mo.
Forrester, Valentine and Havemeier joined with Lauren Earnest (fourth place in the 50 freestyle and sixth place in the 100 backstroke) to take the third-place medal in the 200 medley relay. Forrester (eighth place in the 200 IM), Havemeier (fourth in the 100 butterfly) and Hannah Sayre (10th in the 100 butterfly) rounded out the swimmers to earn top-10 honors.
Skylear Perkins and Emily Kruse earned ninth and 10th, respectively, in the diving competition.
Platte County also defeated Kearney 198-100 in a dual meet Thursday, Dec. 11 at Platte County Community Center North.
Hailee Baer (200 IM and 100 butterfly), Havemeier (50 free style and 100 breaststroke) and Earnest (100 freestyle, and 100 backstroke) each won two events to lead the Pirates. Platte County won each of the relay events, and Perkins won the diving competition.