Not deterred by postponements and cancelations, Platte County produced possibly the best regular season tournament performance in program history Friday night. The Pirates finished second out of 11 teams in the Blue Valley West Mixer with 10 individuals placing in the top three of their weight class.
Platte County sophomores Karrington Friddell (105 pounds) and Nicole Fernandez (190 pounds), juniors Madeleine Stone (235 pounds) and Adrianna Ciccarelli (110 pounds) and senior EmmaLyn Burnett (125) all made the finals. Only Friddell came away with an individual title in a five-wrestler bracket.
After an opening round bye, Friddell won a 10-5 decision over sophomore teammate Gabriella Ciccarelli in the semifinals. The championship bout lasted just 48 seconds, a pin for Friddell against Abigail Culbertson of Topeka (Kansas).
Gabriella Ciccarelli came back to finish third — one of five for Platte County to reach that spot on the podium.
Adrianna Ciccarelli and Stone also received only two matches after an opening bye. At 110, Adrianna Ciccarelli won by fall over Kiley Ehmpke of Topeka in the semifinals but was pinned in 36 seconds in the championship match, while Stone continued her development as a first-year wrestler after two years as an a state-qualifying swimmer. The recorded a first period pin against Ash Flowers of Shawnee Mission South (Kansas) but made it only 39 seconds in the final against Gabby Chaney of DeSoto (Kansas).
Burnett and Fernandez faced deeper brackets but continued to perform at a top level.
At 125, Burnett pinned her way past Arianna Garcia of Blue Valley West (Kansas) in the quarterfinals and Jay Yoder of Spring Hill (Kansas) in the semifinals. The championship bout came against Maia Dolinar of Piper (Kansas), and she earned the win with a third-period pin to improve to 22-1 on the season.
Burnett led 8-0 after the first period after a takedown and two sets of three-point near fall but didn’t earn the pin. Dolinar trailed 8-4 when she took Burnett to her back and recorded the pin with 53 seconds left in regulation.
Fernandez also had a pin in the 190 first round but needed a 5-4 decision to top Jesse Pappas of Olathe West (Kansas) in the semifinals. Fernandez scored a winning escape with 1:24 on the clock in the third period, which didn’t feature any more scoring after that.
In the final, Fernandez lost a 3-0 decision to Spring Hill’s Avery Feeback, who recorded a takedown in the second period after choosing neutral to start. Fernandez took top in the third but gave up a quick escape and ended up shut out.
In addition to Gabriella Ciccarelli, Platte County sophomore Charley Sims (115 pounds), freshman Mila Cucchiara (140 pounds), junior Taylore Lavery (145 pounds) and senior Alivia Juarez (170 pounds) all finished third. Sims, Cucchiara and Juarez all went 3-1, while Lavery opened with a prelim victory but then had to win three straight after a quarterfinal loss to come back for third.
Lavery prevailed in overtime in the third-place match, taking down Olathe West’s Rylan Rasmussen in the 1-minute sudden victory to secure a 10-8 decision.
Platte County was the only non-Kansas team in the field. Spring Hill ended up running away with the team title at 230 points. The Pirates (180 1/2) narrowly edged Olathe West (179) for the runnerup spot, increasing the importance of Lavery’s win in the medal rounds.
KMO Cowbelle Duals
Platte County went 2-3 in five matchups last Friday at Kearney High School but ultimately finished seventh out of eight teams despite losing by three to eventual champion Staley and beating fourth-place Kearney during pool wrestling.
Placed in Pool B, Platte County opened with a second victory this season against Kearney, which currently ranks No. 1 in the Class 1 Missouri Wrestling state rankings. With each team receiving two forfeits, the Pirates eventually prevailed 45-36 with the critical matchup coming at 115 where Sims scored a 7-5 decision in sudden victory over Ella Herndon.
In addition, Friddell (105), Burnett (125), Cucchiara (140), Fernandez (190) and Stone (235) all recorded pins.
However, Platte County lost the final two duals 40-32 to Odessa and 36-33 to Staley, the latter featuring a 5-5 split of head-to-head matches. The results left the Pirates fourth in the four-team pool due to tiebreakers, leaving them to battle for fifth at best.
In the consolation semifinal, Platte County dropped a tight 39-34 matchup with Cameron, which gave up four forfeits while receiving only one. That gave the Pirates an initial 24-6 advantage, but they only won three of the nine contested matchups — pins for Sims (120) and Burnett (125) plus 9-1 decision for sophomore Anna Wiesehan at 130.
Platte County 63, Blue Springs 6
The Pirates returned from the lengthy holiday break with an easy dual victory Wednesday, January 4 in Blue Springs.
There were only two matches wrestled, while Platte County also took 10 forfeits to build up the winning margin. Friddell opened with a decision victory at 105, while Lavery lost by fall at 145. The Pirates sit at 5-3 overall in duals so far this season with scheduled matchups with Smithville and Belton from this past week either postponed or canceled this past week due to inclement weather.
