West Platte cross country has a new school record after Charles Trease broke his previous record on Sept. 26.
The junior distance runner set his new record time at the Gans Creek Blue Varsity race in Columbia. Crossing the finish line after 15 minutes, 55.2 seconds was the quickest 5,000-meter run in West Platte history.
Trease broke his previous school record of 16:04.9, which he set at the Tim Nixon Invitational on Sept. 5 in Liberty. The previous record-holder was Charlie Kinslow, who ran 16:23.8 at the Tim Nixon Invitational as a senior in 2022.
The Blue Jays finished third as a team at Gans Creek, with Trease finishing sixth overall, less than a second behind a top-five finish.
Junior Collin Frederick was another standout, finishing in 16:31.2 for 11th place among 314 finishers. Frederick’s time at Gans Creek also cracked the top five in program history.
The Blue Jays girls also competed at Gans Creek, where sophomore Charlotte Gillis led the way with a season-best time of 20:52.3, just inside the top 20 of 229 competitors. She was followed by junior Jersey O’Neal in 22:20.2 (58th) and sophomore Avery Reber in 23:39.8 (96th), who both set personal season records, while senior Marsali Mullens set a personal record in 27:12.2 (195th).
The West Platte boys previously won the first SPX Invite on Sept. 19 at the St. Pius X High School Athletic Complex.
All seven runners on the boys’ side finished in the top 13, with three finishing top five. Trease finished first overall in 17:52.5, followed by Collin Frederick in second in 18:40.2, with Samuel Miller in fifth in 19:46.4.
The girls placed all four of the team’s runners in the top 11. Sophomore Charlotte Gillis led with a third-place finish in 23:49.4, followed by Jersey O’Neal (24:43.9) in fifth, Avery Reber (25:20.3) in seventh and Hana Hoover (27:07.5) in 11th.
Before hosting the conference meet on Oct. 17, West Platte will compete in Lathrop’s inaugural Mule Miler (Sept. 29), the Excelsior Springs Invitational (Oct. 6) and the Kearney Invitational (Oct. 10).