Speed and strength were on full display from local track and field athletes on May 16 at Liberty North High School for the Class 5 District 8 championships, which crowned 20 Platte County-area athletes as district champions.
Platte County’s boys squad turned in one of the strongest collective performances of the Class 5 District 8 meet on May 16 at Liberty North High School, piling up event victories and sectional qualifiers on the way to a runner-up team finish.
The Pirates scored 135 points to place second behind Liberty North’s 146, while Park Hill finished third with 97 points and Park Hill South added 76 points for fourth.
On the girls side, Platte County placed third with 83 points, narrowly ahead of Park Hill South’s 82 and Park Hill’s 79.5 in a tightly packed team race behind Liberty and Liberty North. The top four finishers in each event qualified for sectionals.
Platte County dominated the boys sprint races behind senior standout Ty Christopher. Christopher swept the district titles in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, running 10.95 seconds in the 100 and 21.89 in the 200. The Pirates nearly swept the 100 entirely, with Adam Gisler placing second in 10.98 and Adeboye Akande taking third in 11.06.
The Platte County trio of Ty Christopher, Adam Gisler and Adeboye Akande finished 1-2-3 in the 100 at the district championships on May 16 at Liberty North.
Akande added a second-place finish in the 200, while Park Hill sophomore Sheldon Smith narrowly beat out teammate Braeden Wilburn for the final sectional spot in 22.68.
Park Hill’s Dontae Bronson Jr. had a day to remember. Before graduating later in the evening, he became a district champion in the 400 with a personal-best time of 48.53 after blazing past the competition in the final stretch.
Bronson also helped power the Trojans’ relay success. Park Hill captured the 4x200 relay district title in a school record time of 1:27.85 with Wilburn, Andrew Minder, Bronson and Smith, while the Trojans also qualified in the 4x100 with a school record of 41.67 and 4x400 in 3:25.24.
Platte County countered with victories in both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. The Pirates’ 4x100 team of Gisler, Christopher, Akande and Jackson Goodale won in 41.07, while Christopher, Elijah Jackson, Cassius Guillory and Goodale claimed the 4x400 title in 3:21.58.
Park Hill South’s Thomas Garrett and Simon Ketter finished in the top two spots in the 1,600.
Park Hill South’s distance program delivered yet another standout showing. Thomas Garrett won district championships in both the 800 and 1600 meters, clocking 1:55.53 and 4:20.18, respectively. Senior teammate Simon Ketter finished second in the 1600, behind only Garrett, before returning to win the 3200-meter run in 9:36.64.
The Panthers also won the 4x800 relay as Grant Windmeyer, Ketter, David Meyer and Garrett combined for an 8:06.15 finish. Platte County’s quartet of Blake Herron, Jackson Townsend, Landon McKinzie and Jackson placed third to advance as well.
In the field events, Park Hill’s Jonah Were claimed the district title in the shot put with a throw of 15.52 meters. Platte County freshman Jayden Horn finished second at 15.25, while teammate Kyler Parker added a third-place finish.
Park Hill South’s Logan Hild won the pole vault at 4.45 meters, setting a new PR. Park Hill also produced a pair of sectional qualifiers in the high jump with Andrew Minder and Malakot Middleton-Lewis both clearing 1.87 meters for second place.
Platte County’s Cale Buntz was crowned the district champion in javelin with a throw of 55.12.
The Pirates added an additional sectional qualifier from Zaden Batey in the 110 hurdles while Park Hill’s Kaiden Leonard placed third in the 300 hurdles.
On the girls side, Platte County senior Adi Benninghoff was among the area’s top performers with a district championship in the 100-meter hurdles. Benninghoff crossed in 15.10, while Park Hill’s Gabrielle Allen placed second and Park Hill South’s Ava Sakic took fourth to send all three to sectionals.
Park Hill added another district champion through Nikyah Chappell in the triple jump. Chappell won with a leap of 11.97 meters and also qualified in the 400, placing third in 58.49. She additionally helped the Trojans qualify both sprint relays.
The Trojans’ 4x100 relay team of Caroline Schaag, Adebusola Ilori, Annalise Agbor and Jae Bell placed third, while Schaag, Agbor, Bell and Chappell combined for another third-place finish in the 4x200 relay.
Park Hill sophomore Elliott Harris has had a standout season in shot put, becoming a district champion with a school record throw of 13.06 meters.
Park Hill also found success in the throws. Standout sophomore Elliott Harris captured the district title in the shot put, using walk-off fashion with a school record mark of 13.06 meters in her final try, while Mandia Bock won the javelin title at 44.15 meters for another PR. Amaya Akinmoladun finished second in the discus, and Emma Richei qualified at fourth in the pole vault.
Park Hill South’s Madilynn Conklin became a four-time district champion in the 1600, winning with a new school record time of 5:01.72 while also placing third in the 800. Lynnae Warfield added a runner-up finish in the high jump, while Zari Martin qualified in both the discus and javelin.
Platte County’s girls also captured a district title in the 4x800 relay, where Madelyn Stewart, Emily Huehl, Addison Ayers and Mary Dellinger ran 10:18.37 for first place. The Pirates added sectional qualifiers in the 4x100, 4x400 and long jump, where Rylee Carr finished second.
Adilynn Kern rounded out Platte County’s district champions by winning the pole vault at 3.05 meters.
The sectional qualifiers advance to the Class 5 Sectional 4 meet on May 23 at Lee’s Summit North High School.