Rebekah Geddes made an impressive season debut. In Platte County’s first 5-kilometer race of the season, the Pirates standout sophomore placed second in a competitive field at the 36th annual Raymore-Peculiar Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 12 in Peculiar, Mo. She clocked in at 19 minutes, 42.10 seconds to beat St. Joseph Central’s Paityn Howat by almost 3½ seconds for the runner-up spot.
Olathe East (Kan.)’s Kayla Davis topped the 105-runner field in 19:30.60.
Park Hill South won the large school team competition, placing its top five inside the top 20. The Panthers totaled 54 to better Lee’s Summit West’s 78. Lexi Maddox, a junior, topped the effort by placing fifth in 19:49.00. Jasmine Crawford, another junior, came in seventh, while the sophomore trio of Keely Danielsen (13th), Marti Heit (15th) and Emma Roth (17th) rounded out the team scoring.
Platte County came in 10th out of 15 teams with sophomore Erin Straubel the next best finisher behind Geddes. Straubel came in 38th. Geddes, a medalist last year at the Class 4 Missouri State Cross Country Championships, did not run in the Liberty Invitational the previous week with coach Chris Stubbs planning to limit her races this season.
Park Hill followed Platte County in 11th with Jillian Roepe placing 32nd to lead the Trojans, who totaled 275 to come in 26 behind the Pirates.
Lea Moose, West Platte’s lone runner in the small school competition placed 20th in 23:16.
On the boys side, West Platte took seventh out of eight teams while competing without three of its top six runners. Daniel Cicha, a senior, continued to battle some unexpected knee pain but led the Bluejays with a 14th-place showing (18:46). Andrew Cicha a sophomore set a new personal record in 19:18, good enough for 22nd with freshman Max Davies right behind in 23rd at 19:18.6.
Davies ran the fifth-best time for a freshman at West Platte during the past decade.
Park Hill South sophomore Eli Guzman earned a medal in the big school field with a 12th-place finish (17:01.40), helping the Panthers finish eighth out of 15 teams. Hunter Lund came in 22nd at 17:19.50 for Park Hill, which came in 12th — one spot back of Platte County.
Jackson Letcher, a freshman, led the Pirates for the second straight week (17:35.00), placing 30th. Their next five runners were all bunched within 45 seconds of each other with junior Hunter Long in 58th.
The Platte County Invitational is scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 17 at Platte Ridge Park in Platte City. The Pirates will be there along with Park Hill, Park Hill South, West Platte and North Platte.
First race is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.