Caden DeLay just missed a state cut in the 100-yard breaststroke but did plenty to help Platte County to a runner-up showing in its largest home meet.
The Pirates’ only returning qualifier for the Missouri State Swimming and Diving Championships scored an impressive victory in the event and swam on the team’s victorious relay — the 200 medley team. DeLay also swam on one of two runner-up relays.
Platte County finished with 364 points and placed second to Raytown in the 11-team meet Saturday, Aug. 27 at Platte County Community Center North.
DeLay scored one of two individual wins for the home team, finishing the 100 breaststroke in 1 minute, 4.53 seconds. He beat St. Pius X’s Logan James by more than 6 seconds and missed a state qualifying time by just .04 of a second.
In the medley relay, Delay, Baxter Stone, Jerry Orozco and Joe Ragone combined for a 1:53.60 effort to win by more than a second over St. Pius X.
BRENT ROSENAUER/Citizen photo
Platte County senior Jerry Orozco comes up for a breath while swimming in the Platte County Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 27 at Platte County Community Center North.
Those four were a big part of Platte County’s big day. Orozco won the 200 individual medley (2:16.44) in addition to his relay win. Ragone came in fifth behind his teammate in that event and was third in the 500 freestyle.
Orozco was third in the 100 butterfly.
Platte County’s Alex Beall also placed in the top of two events (second, 100 backstroke and fifth, 100 freestyle), while Stone (100 backstroke) and Luke Hodson (500 freestyle) also had fifth-place finishes. The Pirates’ 200 (Orozco, DeLay, Rhett Spell and Hunter Bowen) and 400 (Ragone, Beall, Stone, and Bowen) freestyle relay teams were both second to Raytown, which totaled 449 points.
DeLay also finished fourth in the 50 freestyle to finish with four medals. Last season, he was part of a record-setting group of Platte County swimmers and divers to qualify for state, going with the medley relay and placing 34th in the 100 breaststroke preliminaries.
Ozarks Invitational
Park Hill and Park Hill South went 1-2 in the final standings of the 19-team meet held this past weekend at Foster Natatorium in Springfield, Mo.
Competing together at a large event for the second straight week, Park Hill came out on top of its district rival again. The two teams combined for victories in nine of 12 events and 12 new or improved state qualification times.
Park Hill finished with 324 points, and the 400 freestyle relay team of Danny Jones, Thor Mardis, Sean Cogley and Daniel Spielhagen won in 3:24.45 while Park Hill South’s team of Kyle DiBernardo, Charles Allen, Connor Morris and Stephen Heit were fourth. The Panthers ended up with 309 points following the final race.
Jones also won the 100 butterfly and came in second in the 200 freestyle, posting a state time in both for Park Hill. Mardis came in fourth behind his teammate in the 100 butterfly.
Spielhagen won the 500 and came in under the state mark by nearly 10 seconds and then beat Park Hill South’s Jackson Garrett in a tight 100 backstroke finish with both swimmers improving their state qualifying mark.
Spielhagen finished in at 54.76, while Jackson, a sophomore, was right behind in 54.94, reversing the result of their finish at last week’s Battle for the Northland.
Park Hill won two of the three relays with Jones, Spielhagen, Cogley and Jordan Timmerman improving their state time in the 200 freestyle relay and beating Park Hill South by a half second. The Panthers’ team of Garrett, Isaac Lee, Patrick Hefferren and Daniel Miller qualified for state with the runner-up showing.
Park Hill South won four races, including the 200 medley relay of Garrett, Miller, Hefferren and Lee in an improved state qualifying mark of 1:43.42
Jackson took the 200 individual medley in 2:04.70 — good enough for a state mark — with Hefferren edging Mardis for the fifth-place spot. Miller improved state cuts with victories in the 50 freestyle (22.24) with Park Hill’s Cogley fourth and 100 breaststroke (1:01.14) with Hefferren fifth.
Cogley also came in second in the 100 freestyle with teammate Timmerman in fifth, just less than a quarter second back of South’s Lee in fourth.
Staley 489, Platte County 427, North Kansas City 210, Oak Park 203, Winnetonka 92
The Pirates beat three of the four North Kansas City District schools in a five-team meet held Tuesday, Aug. 23 at Platte County Community Center North.
DeLay accounted for both of Platte County’s individual victories and swam on the first-place 400 freestyle relay team to close the competition. DeLay won the 50 freestyle (23.52) by more than a full second and beat teammate Orozco in a 1-2 finish for the Pirates in the 100 backstroke.
Orozco, DeLay, Stone and Ragone swam for Platte County on the 400 freestyle relay, which finished in 3:53.25 to beat North Kansas City by just less than a full second.
Lee’s Summit West 91, Park Hill South 85
The Panthers won 7 of 12 events Tuesday, Aug. 23 at Park Hill District Aquatic Center in Kansas City, Mo. but didn’t have enough to win the dual.
Jackson (200 freestyle, 100 backstroke), Miller (50 freestyle, 100 butterfly), Morris (500 freestyle), and Lucas Etheridge (1-meter diving) were the individual winners for Park Hill South. Jackson, Miller, Morris and Lee swam on the Panthers’ 400 freestyle relay team, the only one of three to win a relay event.
Park Hill South did not post any new state cuts.
Park Hill 213, St. Joseph Central 59
The Trojans dominated their dual Tuesday, Aug. 23 in St. Joseph, Mo. but did not post any new state qualifying times. The 200 medley relay of Spielhagen, Zack O’Conor, Jones and Cogley finished in 1:45.52 and missed reaching state by .03 of a second.
Park Hill won all 11 events with Spielhagen (200 IM, 100 butterfly) and Jones (100 freestyle, 200 freestyle) taking two individual events each.