Platte County leaning on combo of experience, intriguing newcomers

For the second straight year, Platte County boasts a record number of wrestlers on the roster for a program still very much growing and thriving in infancy.

A new era definitely begins with this season, and seniors Haley Burge and Hannah Mand along with juniors Sarah Humburg have the duty of creating a new identity. The Pirates graduated all three of last year’s qualifiers for the Girls Missouri State Wrestling Championships and for total from the first freshman-to-senior class since the state’s adoption of the sport for 2018-2019.

KayLyn Munn spent her four seasons authoring and then editing Platte County’s record book with her three state medals, run to the state finals in 2021 and last year’s state championship, while Elizabeth Humburg grew into a state qualifier in just three years, Audrey Call made the most of only two seasons on the mat and Elizabeth Geddes thrived in her one campaign on the mat after transitioning from team manager.

“There’s not a way to replace them,” Platte County coach Reggie Burress said. “It’s one of those things where you can’t replace that, and we’re not trying to replace them, per se. We’re trying to get girls to step up to that level and carry on that tradition that others set forward for this team.”

Platte County’s path to more state qualifiers theoretically becomes easier with the state splitting program’s in two classes. While the Pirates will be in the larger tier, the teams assigned to Class 2 District 4 will be about half the amount from previous years as the sport’s continued spread created the need to divide and make opportunity more equitable.

No one could benefit more than Burge, the most-experienced wrestler on the Platte County roster. She finished 15-18 as a junior and missed out on a state berth at 115 pounds by just one match after taking another step forward in the postseason.

After drawing into a matchup with the No. 4 seed and dropping into the consolation bracket in last year’s district tournament, Burge came back with a pair of victories but ended up facing Liberty North’s Kaydence Grass again with a trip to the third-place match on the line, only to lose for a second time.

A year earlier, Burge reached the reduced district’s semifinals but missed reaching sectionals by just one victory with the postseason separated into a two-tier qualification process due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think she’s going to do everything under her power to get to the state tournament this year,” Burress said.

Mand (22-16) — known more as a speedster in track — joined up as part of an impressive collection of first-year contributors for Platte County last season. She experienced multiple successes and went 2-2 at districts at 120 pounds.

Burnett, a sophomore, attempted to navigate one of the District 4’s more crowded brackets and going 3-2 at 130 left her two wins shy of a state berth. She finished her first season at 14-11.

Sarah Humburg ended up squeezed out of the postseason lineup with Elizabeth Humburg (125), Burnett (130) and Call (135) also in her range. However, she went 10-17 overall and helped the Pirates to finish as Suburban Conference Blue Division runnerup.

“They’re using (last year) as motivation for themselves,” Burress said. “They’re always talking about it and what they can do to get better.”

Burge (115), Mand (120/125), Burnett (125/130) and Sarah Humburg (130/135) should form the strength of the lineup, and with 18 on the roster, Platte County could challenge to have a mostly full lineup with 190 and 235 the only real question marks. The Pirates also have sophomores Adrianna Ciccarelli (6-24, 100 pounds), Caitlyn Roudebush (7-18, 145) and Alivia Juarez (8-16, 155 pounds) back from last year’s district lineup, which produced a fifth-place team finish overall. Ciccarelli, Roudebush and Juarez all went 0-2 at districts last season.

The key could be how many of the second-year contributors take a step forward similar to those of others in recent seasons.

“It doesn’t matter if you’ll come in and work hard, put the time in, be very coachable,” Burress said. “That’s probably the biggest thing. The girls are very coachable. They listen; they pay attention; they want to get better every day, and they absorb everything you talk about.”

The wild card for Platte County depending on eligibility could be senior Lilly Brower, a transfer who spent the past her freshman season at Excelsior Springs and has been away from the sport for two years. She did not have a spot in the postseason the past two years but went 22-1 and finished as state runnerup to Faith Cole of Lafayette (Wildwood) at 110 as a freshman. Cole won an 11-2 major decision in the final and went on to become a four-time undefeated state champion — first in Missouri history.

Brower would likely be at 120 and push Mand, Burnett and Humburg up a weight.

The other first-year options on the roster include freshmen Gabriella Ciccarelli (100), Arabella Henson (competing with Adrianna Ciccarelli at 105), Karrington Fridell (110), Briannon Rosenberger (possibly at 120), Grace Greer (140), Faith Greer (140), Nicole Fernandez (170) and Rayan Abdikarim (170). Burress also noted the intrigue around sophomore Giada Cucchiara, a contributor in soccer last season who has taken well to a new sport and should be in the lineup at either 135 or 140. Haley Moser, a junior, is in competition with Fernandez and Abdikarim for the 170 spot.

“Probably the best thing I can say is that our older girls help those younger kids along quicker,” Burress said. “They’re forced to wrestle with them more than the boys because there’s not as many of them.”

The amount of success this retooled lineup experience remains to be seen.

In addition to competing in a two-class postseason system, Platte County also moves to the Suburban Conference White Division and likely competes with Belton for supremacy in the five-team league. The Pirates will ultimately continue to push for postseason success, but the graduated senior class accounted for 75 of their 97 points at District 4 last season.

• The only four-year senior of the bunch, Munn went 35-3 as a senior and concluded her career with a 2-0 win over Central (Springfield) junior Catherine Dutton in the 195 final, avenging a loss to the same wrestler in the state finals the previous season. Her list of superlatives for the Pirates includes being:
• One of the first two state qualifiers in program history
• One of the first two wrestlers to win a state match
• One of the first two to win a state medal
• One of the first two state finalists
• The first four-time state qualifier in program history
• The first three-time medalist in program history
• The first two-time finalist in program history
• The first state champion
• The all-time leader in wins
• The all-time leader in falls

Call (135) and Elizabeth Humburg (125) both went 1-2 in their brackets while making state debuts and helped Platte County finish tied for 23rd in the final team standings.

Finishing 34-7, Call went into state off of a runnerup finish at District 4 two weeks earlier. Humburg placed fourth, drawing her a district champion in her opener. Both suffered first-round losses, came back to stay alive but exited early on Day 2 of the state tournament.

However, Humburg and Call became just fourth and fifth in program history to win a match at state, joining Avery Krahenbill, Sarina Bertram and Munn.

Geddes was one of five district quarterfinalists for Platte County last season. She suffered a loss to eventual 141 third-place finisher Layson Hafley in the quarterfinals but recorded a pair of victories in the consolation bracket and came up just one win of qualifying for state.

“We’ll keep trying to get other girls to reach that same level,” Burress said. “Obviously, they didn’t start out at the highest level. None of them had any experience before high school. Literally, Burge is the only one who wrestled any youth for us. That’s just where we’re at.”