The Blue Jay Track Squad ran at the Pirate Relays on Monday, marking the first time in several years the Jays have run against their county rival. The meet consisted of all relay events, no open racing, and the Jays took 4th on both the men's and women's side. The Blue Jays had strong showings considering they were competing against Platte County, Grain Valley, Excelsior Springs, Lawson, Southeast, and Plattsburg.
The relays medaled up to third place, field events top two, and the boys snagged three 3rd place finishes - Sprint Medley Relay 1600 (2,2,4,8) Team of Brandon James, Quinn O'Malley, Chad Fowles, and Zac Howerton, Distance Medley Relay - 1200, 400, 800, 1600 - Julian Trelow, Matik Heskin, Isaac Helmich, and Max Davies, and the Co-Ed 4x400 team of Mikenna Peters, Quinn O'Malley, Lea Moose, and Drake Stelljes. In the field events, no medals were won but the boys placed 5th in discus with Zach Scroggins throwing 108'9", Javelin saw Rylan Richardson just miss a medal with a throw of 127'4" and Jacob Brown finished 8th at 116'. High jump - Ryan Borylo had another good day and finished in a tie for 2nd place at 5'8".
On the girl's side of the meet, West Platte scored medals in 6 events, with a Gold in the Sprint Medley (100,100,200,400) Team of Faith Stevens, Gretchen Raney, Tori Norman, and Mikenna Peters, silver in the 4x1600 (4 mile) Relay - Lindsay Goodwin, Bella Clark, Katie Groom, and Sophia Rush. The girls also won 3rd place medals in the 4x100 - Faith Stevens, Gracie Raney, Gretchen Raney, and Daire Stelljes, the DMR - Bella Clark, Katy Tharp, Lindsay Goodwin, and Sophia Rush, as well as the SMR 1600 - (200,200,400,800) Tori Norman, Daire Stelljes, Lea Moose, and Katy Tharp. The girls also owned a share of the 4x400 Co-Ed 3rd place as mentioned above. Field events were tough at Platte County, but the girls scored big points in the high jump with Daire Stelljes leading the way in 3rd and a season tying best of 5', followed by Faith Stevens 4th, and Lexie Smither in 5th, both at 4'8". Lexie also placed 5th in long jump, and Faith 7th in triple jump. Discus also earned points with Amanda Lowell taking 8th.
The Pirate Relays were a change of pace from the normal meet schedule, and running against the bigger schools was a good challenge for the track team. They will be back in action, at Atchison, this Thursday. Field events will begin at 3:30 pm and running at 5:00 pm.