Cogdill earns elusive state berth for Platte County swimming

Not only did Platte County score a dominant win in its final dual of the season, the Pirates also ended up with their long awaited state qualifier in a swimming event. Platte County won all 12 events Tuesday, Oct. 13 at Platte County Community Center North, including John Cogdill in two of them. The Pirates junior won the 200-yard individual medley and then finally posted his state cut in the 100 breaststroke later in the meet.

Cogdill finished in 1 minute, 4.34 seconds, beating the necessary mark by 0.15 of a second and finishing just more than a second in front of teammate Caden DeLay. Cogdill joins Justin Richardson (1-meter diving) as the Pirates two qualifiers for the Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships so far this season. “It was a little bit euphoric,” Cogdill said. “It was almost like an out-of-body experience. It was a little bit hard to comprehend at first, but I was excited the rest of the day.” Platte County finishes the season this weekend in the Suburban Conference Blue Division Championships before the “last-chance meet.” “(Bailey Shepard) yanked me out of the water and hugged me for a solid 10 seconds,” Cogdill said. “I have a lot less stress now. I feel like I can actually rest up for the upcoming meet instead of pushing myself to be better.”

Cogdill easily topped the IM field in 2:08.28, while also swimming a leg on the victorious 400 freestyle relay team with Josh Richardson, Shepherd and Jerry Orozco. Shepherd won the 200 freestyle , while Orozco (500 freestyle) and Josh Richardson (100 butterfly) also recorded individual wins.

Nick Kunels swept the 50 freestyle (23.36) and 100 freestyle (55.00), continuing to flirt with the 22.99 qualifying standard in the shorter event.

Burton Stinnett was Platte County’s final individual winner, topping the 100 backstroke field, while also swimming on the winning 200 medley relay team with Bryce Bearden, Aleiss Meeks and Orozco. Kunels, Shepherd, DeLay and Dalton Huntley were on the victorious 200 freestyle relay team. Bearden beat Justin Richardson as the only diving entrants.