The West Platte and North Platte girls track and field teams shined at the North Platte Invitational on Tuesday, April 1 in Dearborn.
Just like last year, the West Platte girls finished first as a team, topping second-place North Platte 146-79.
The Blue Jays were especially dominant in field events, with three first-place finishes. Junior Addison Bailey earned a pair of first-place medals in the triple jump with a 9.58-meter leap and the long jump at 4.52 meters while freshman Katherine Carletti finished first with a pole vault of 2.44m.
West Platte also had 10 more top-three finishers, including second-place finishes for the 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams as Bailey got second in 300m hurdles while senior Hailey Peters finished second in 100m hurdles and third in 300m hurdles. Senior Sam Baker was third in the 100m dash, junior Payton Reber finished third in the 3200m run and sophomores Kaelyn Eades and Cambrie Swope finished third in high jump and discus.
On the track, the North Platte girls showed why they've been so dominant in recent years. They took home four first-place medals including a pair of relays, where they clocked a time of 10 minutes, 52.21 seconds to finish more than 14 seconds faster than West Platte in the 4x800m relay and a time of 4:20.77 in the 4x400m relay, nearly 7 seconds faster than the runners-up.
Senior duo Brianna DeBord and Lindsey Ramsey also had first-place finishes, DeBord running 800m in 2:33.06 and Ramsey sprinting 100m in 12.07. The Panthers also finished second in the 4x100m relay, while DeBord and junior Chloe Heckman finished second and third in the 1600m, with Heckman also getting third in the 3200m run.
On the boys side, third-place North Platte scored 93.5 as a team to take the edge over fourth-place West Platte, who scored 75 as a team. East Buchanan ran away with 144.5 points for first while Ewing Marion Kauffman took second with 98 points.
Junior distance runner Drake Keraus led the Panthers with a pair of first-place finishes, running 800m in 2:06.74 and 3200m in 10:49.89. Senior pole vaulter Coen Rainsbarger also had a first-place finish at 3.78m.
Keraus also had a second-place finish in the 1600m run as senior Caleb Wright fell just shy of first in the high jump. Junior Cameron Wortham finished third in discus and freshman Bill Schaffert was third in the 3200m run.
For the West Platte boys, junior Alex Kinslow won the 300 hurdles competition with a time of 41.50. The Blue Jays' 4x200 relay team also took first, racing 1:32.83.
Seniors August Hill and Jonah McGivern had second-place finishes in the 200m and 400m. Sophomores Brady McMillan and Khysen Heskin also cracked the top three in the 400m and javelin.