The West Platte boys and girls track and field teams both earned third-place finish at the KCI Conference Championships on Saturday, May 3, at Mid-Buchanan High School in Faucett.
Senior Jonah McGivern became a back-to-back conference champion in the 400-meter dash, finishing his lap in a time of 52.90 seconds. He also set a new school record for West Platte with a leap of 6.58 meters in the long jump, earning a second-place medal.
West Platte also earned gold medals in the 4x100 boys relay for the fourth consecutive year and the 4x200-meter relay for the second straight year. McGivern was joined by August Hill, Alex Kinslow and Brady McMillan as they raced to first in 43.96 in the 4x100 and 1 minute, 33.44 seconds in the 4x200 relay.
Hill also medaled with second-place finishes in the 100m dash (11.02s) and 200m dash (22.25s) while Kinslow finished second in the 300m hurdles (41.26s). Freshman Sam Miller also had an impressive showing, finishing second in the 1600m (4 minutes, 58.47 seconds) run and third in the 3200m run (10:43.47).
On the girls side, senior Sam Baker provided two silver medals in the 200m dash (25.33s) and 400m dash (59.16s). The Blue Jays also medaled third in the 4x400 girls relay as Sophie Grier, Addison Bailey, Hailey Peters and Katherine Carletti finished in 4:26.69.
Peters finished third in 100m hurdles (16.61s) while Bailey put West Platte on the board in field events, finishing third in triple jump (9.98m). In the discus, sophomore Cambrie Swope finished second (32.61m) while senior Aurora Green came in third (30.08m).
North Platte also had 19 medalists at the KCI Championships but finished fourth in girls and fifth in boys as Lindsey Ramsey defended her conference supremacy with three gold medals.
After earning gold in 100m, 200m and 400m dashes last year, Ramsey reclaimed those titles for the Panthers this year. She won the 100m in 12.12s, 200m in 24.66s and the 400m at the 55.70s mark.
North Platte also earned a gold medal in the 4x800 for the second time in the past three years. The team of Brianna DeBord, Chloe Heckman, Farrah Williams and Graci Williams won the race in 10:25.10.
Farrah Williams and Graci Williams were joined by Morgan Ball and Megan Schuster to earn first in the 4x400 girls relay. They won the relay for North Platte’s third time in four year’s with a time of 4:16.51.
On the boys side, junior distance runner Drake Keraus brought home three gold medals. He was crowned the conference champion of the 3200m run (10:58.39), 1600m run (4:53.97) and 800m run (2:08.66) after finishing as the runner-up in all three events his sophomore year. Lastly, North Platte junior Cameron Wortham became the conference champion of discus with a 42.16m throw.
With some athletes set for deep postseason runs, North Platte and West Platte will prepare for their Class 2 District 8 meet on Saturday, May 10.