Platte County went into KC Stampede plenty tested, but a third straight deep tournament concluded with overall disappointing results. The Pirates advanced five wrestlers to the second day of championship bracket competition, but all missed out on medals.
Platte County senior Giada Cucchiara wrestles in a 135-pound match during the KC Stampede tournament Saturday at Bartle Hall in Kansas City.
The top eight in each bracket finished on the podium, and wrestlers needed to either reach the quarterfinals or advance to the fifth round of the consolation half of the bracket Friday to stay in contention. The remainder were placed into “hard luck” brackets on Saturday.
Platte County seniors Giada Cucchiara and Madeleine Stone plus junior Charley Sims came up one win short of earning medal, while senior Maddie Nichols and junior Nicole Fernandez lost their second-day openers. The Pirates finished 31st out of 58 teams in the final standings for one of the Midwest’s biggest tournaments.
Cucchiara and Stone — a pair of returning state qualifiers — entered off of medal-winning performances in both the Jay Border Wars and Council Bluffs Classic the prior two weekends.
Stone advanced to the quarterfinals of the 235-pound bracket in the best progression of the weekend for Platte County. She opened with pins in her first two matches, which lasted 16 and 21 seconds respectively.
Unseeded and randomly drawn into the bracket, Stone went into the second period of a quarterfinal against Grain Valley junior Jayden Moehle scoreless but ended up pinned. That sent Stone to the backside where her tournament ended with a 9-3 loss by decision to Abbey Dannelly of Millard South (Nebraska).
Platte County junior Charley Sims wrestles in a 115-pound match during the KC Stampede tournament Saturday at Bartle Hall in Kansas City.
Dannelly came all the way back to place fourth at 235, while Moehle — Missouri’s defending Class 2 state champion — ended up sixth.
Cucchiara, who missed all of last season while rehabbing a torn ACL suffered during offseason soccer, split her first two matches Friday in the 135 bracket but won three straight on the backside. That included a comeback against Staley sophomore Ja’ziya Miles, who led 3-0 early in the fifth-round consolation matchup.
With a takedown late in the second period, Cucchiara recorded a fall at 2 minutes, 52 seconds to move within a match of medalling. However, she lost in 32 seconds to Heaven Guevara of Cleveland (New Mexico). Guevara went on to place fourth after ending Cucchiara’s tournament.
Sims won four straight consolation matches after dropping her opening matchup in the 115 bracket. She advanced with three pins plus a 6-1 decision over Bailey Burbes of Francis Howell.
In the consolation bubble match, Sims, who came up one win shy of a state berth as a sophomore, chased a late takedown and potential win but dropped a 3-1 decision to Belton sophomore Africa Fabian, who went on to place fifth. Sims’ championship side loss came to tournament runnerup Marina Loera from Garden City (Kansas), which won the KC Stampede team title.
Platte County junior Nicole Fernandez wrestles in a 190-pound match during the KC Stampede tournament Saturday at Bartle Hall in Kansas City.
A year after making a surprise run to sixth place, Fernandez received a bye and immediately matched up with a familiar opponent in the second round. Oak Park senior Kendall Angelo held on for a 5-2 decision in the matchup on the way to placing fourth.
Fernandez received another by and then won back-to-back matches Friday to stay alive. She advanced out of the fourth round of the consolation half of the bracket with a 7-1 decision over Alayna Brown of Glenpool (Oklahoma).
However, Ellie Baska of Paola (Kansas) ended Fernandez’s tournament with a pin in the second period in Saturday morning’s opener. Baska medaled eighth.
Fernandez recorded a win by fall against Angelo in their first meeting last year during a dual but has now lost two straight, including one in the semifinals of the Class 2 District 4 tournament last season.
Nichols, a senior transfer in her first season at Platte County, also lost her first match Friday in the 155 bracket to Oak Park junior Bailee Wardlow, who recorded a pin 44 seconds into the second period. Nichols won the next two matches by fall before Hannibal senior Bailey Zimmerman ended her tournament with a first-period pin in the fifth round of consolation matches.
Wardlow eventually finished seventh, while Zimmerman came in fifth.
Platte County freshman Harper Golden came back from a quick exit in the 100 championship bracket to place first in Saturday’s hard luck competition. She lost to eventual tournament runnerup El Reno (Oklahoma) freshman Remy Whitney in the second round and went 1-1 in consolation matches.
Golden went 4-0 on Saturday.
Platte County senior Alivia Juarez placed second in her 170 hard luck bracket with a 3-1 record. She also went 1-2 in championship matches Friday.
