Rankings are just rankings, and don’t mean a whole lot. However, projecting out potential paths to state medals can provide some insights.
Platte County’s 10 boys qualifiers have the Pirates at No. 4 in the Missouri Wrestling rankings released prior to the start of the Class 3 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships. Fourth would give the program another state trophy, but the work remains to be done this weekend. The girls have three qualifiers and hope to have a medalist for a seventh consecutive season.
A year ago, Platte County’s boys didn’t even have a spot on the championship radar last season before finishing fifth. The Pirates saw EmmaLyn Burnett place sixth at 125 pounds and hit pretty close to her projected medal finish. Below I take a look at each bracket, especially the early rounds to take an early look at how the Pirates might produce the five medalists likely needed to compete for a spot on the team podium.
Reaching the semifinals guarantees a medal, as does three wins for any wrestler losing in the first round or quarters.
BOYS
106 Pounds — Cade Crawford, Fr., 29-12
After finishing third in Class 3 District 4, Crawford holds the No. 6 ranking and immediately draws No. 7 Miguel McCreery, a sophomore from Camdenton with a 25-15 record.
Crawford’s biggest struggles this season have come against stronger, more experienced wrestlers, and McCreery fits the bill. The winner likely draws Hillsboro No. 3-ranked freshman Carter Pryor (35-6), who will be the overwhelming favorite to reach the finals on that half of the bracket.
A win in the first round sets up either Crawford and McCreery well because even with a quarterfinal loss, the draw looks favorable on the backside. Then the waiting game starts for how the rest of the bracket shakes out.
120 Pounds — Jaxson Shute, So., 37-7
With a win over St. Michael the Archangel junior Parker Lutz in last week’s Class 3 District 4 final, Shute did himself a huge favor in terms of bracket positioning. He remained at No. 3 in the rankings but the other three in the top four all sit on the opposite half.
Shute opens with McDonald County freshman Christian Benhumea (19-20) and his most likely quarterfinal opponent would be No. 6 Brenton Drummond (33-5), a junior from DeSoto. Shute finished second at 106 as a freshman, while Drummond was sixth at 113 two years ago and lost out to Platte County’s Caden Hulett in the bubble round a year ago, denying him a return to the podium.
The likely semifinal opponent would be Carl Junction senior Carter Fogelsong (38-6), a fourth-place finisher at 106 as a sophomore and state runnerup at 113 as a junior.
Lutz ended up likely facing No. 1-ranked Hannibal junior Austin Brown, a Class 3 state champion at 113 with a win over Foglesong last year after placing third at 106 as a freshman. Lutz finished first at 113 in Class 2 last year before St. Michael bumped up into Class 3 District 4 and was third at 106 as a freshman.
In the top half of the bracket, Brown, Lutz and No. 3-ranked Hillsboro junior James Penick (39-4) will be the top contenders to reach the finals, while Foglesong faces an interesting first-round matchup with Kearney sophomore Phoenix Shelton (30-13), the fourth-place finisher in a strong District 4 bracket.
126 Pounds — Hank Marriott, Fr., 18-16
Finding form late in the season, Marriott defeated a two-time senior state qualifier just to qualify for state but now must deal with the potential consequences of a fourth-place district finish. He draws No. 1-ranked Farmington junior Aidan Hahn (40-3) in the opening round.
Hahn finished third in Class 3 as a sophomore and fifth as a freshman — both at 106 — before bumping up this year and seemingly hitting a new gear. He lost to Shute in last year’s semifinals.
Without an upset, Marriott would draw a fellow unranked opponent in the loser between St. Charles junior Taylor Souders (31-14) or Carl Junction junior Camdon Kunkel (31-12). If Marriott ends up on the backside out of the gate and can stay alive to second round wrestlebacks, his opponent would likely be one of Hillsboro junior Carter Wallis (No. 2, 35-7), Warrensburg junior Jaylen Civil (No. 3, 35-3) or Northeast (Kansas City) sophomore Locardo Mwamba (No. 9, 32-8).
Wallis is a two-time Class 3 state champion (106 as a freshman and 120 as a sophomore) but lost to Hahn in last week’s District 1 final.
144 Pounds — Grant Fadler, So., 30-10
Now a three-time state qualifier, Fadler made the District 4 final for the first time and earned a No. 2 seed. All that does is earn him a matchup with No. 10 Darron Bell (39-5), a sophomore from Ladue Horton Watkins who advanced out of districts for the first time.
A win almost assuredly sets up a matchup with Hillsboro No. 1-ranked senior Jackson Tucker, undefeated at 16-0 but limited this season by injury. He is a three-time state finalist with titles at 132 and 138 the past two seasons.
Fadler went 1-2 each of the past two seasons at state and hopes to better that this time around with the No. 8 ranking at 144. Regardless of first-round result, he seems to have a good early backside draw but a win would position him better to earn a medal, especially if Jackson hold his ranking and reaches the semifinals.
150 Pounds — Evan Maccuish, Sr., 39-4
Without a loss since the KC Stampede in December, Maccuish goes into his third state tournament ranked No. 2 and with a No. 1 seed. The draw also played out well for him with the only ranked wrestler in his quarter of the bracket No. 10 Capital City senior Demarkus Lyddon-Allen (30-15) as a potential second-round opponent.
Looking more broadly, No. 1-ranked Whitfield senior Rome Tate (38-6) and No. 3-ranked Marshfield senior Tanner Davidson (41-4) sit on the opposite side along with St. Michael the Archangel junior Brody Narron (30-13) and Smithville senior Brennen Greene (32-16). Should Maccuish reach the semifinals after going 0-2 and 1-2 in his first two state appearances, he would likely face either No. 4 Carl Junction sophomore Aaron Dillingham (38-10) or No. 7 Hillsboro senior Wyatt Hendrix (31-10).
A three-time qualifier, Tate finished third last year at 150 and fifth two years ago at 144, while Davidson is a two-time sixth-place medalist. Maccuish and Hendrix are the only two in the top seven at 150 without a previous state medal.
157 Pounds — Darrell Smith, Sr., 20-4
All three of Smith’s losses to Missouri opponents this season have come against St. Michael the Archangel freshman Cole Sackett (34-8), who won last week’s Class 3 District 4 semifinal between the two. That put Smith — a somewhat surprising fifth-place state medalist at 165 as a junior — into the backside where he finished third.
Smith reached state as a fourth-place finisher the two prior years and drew the No. 1-ranked wrestler in his weight class both times. He holds the No. 5 spot at 157 but must open with Jefferson City sophomore Mikel Carver (No. 8, 34-11) and a win could put him in the quarterfinals with No. 2-ranked Holt senior Boston Howard (30-2).
After going 0-2 as a sophomore at state, Smith won three straight backside matches after a first-round loss last year to reach the medal rounds. Howard qualified as a sophomore at 150 but didn’t wrestle in the postseason last year.
Smith, Howard or Carver will be the semifinal favorites in that quarter with Sackett, ranked No. 3, set on paper for a quarterfinal with No. 4-ranked Farmington senior Kyeler Aders. With a loss in the first round or quarterfinals, Smith would likely have a favorable draw coming back, but an opening win would help him avoid either Sackett or Bolivar junior Cale McCurry (No. 7, 26-8) in a potential bubble round matchup.
165 Pounds — Jack Johnson, So., 4-2
After entering districts without a match this season, Johnson actually owns the No. 10 ranking going into state as a fourth-place finisher. His wins came in the first two rounds last week before forfeiting his semifinals and then winning the wrestleback needed to earn a repeat trip to state after going 1-2 at 144 as a freshman.
Johnson initially expected to have season-ending shoulder surgery from an injury in football but couldn’t get scheduled before the end of the season. The procedure can wait, and doctors cleared him, allowing him to win a wrestleoff ahead of the postseason.
After losing the Class 3 District 4 third-place match 27-17 to Lincoln Prep junior Philip Faigan (No. 6, 38-6), Johnson draws No. 3-ranked Helia junior Eli Homan — a two-time state medalist who placed third last year at 165 — in the opening round. That likely means Johnson needs to get three backside wins to make another big run.
That would likely start with DeSmet junior Tim Nicholson (13-18) and what looks like a very winnable second round wrestleback against either Whitfield freshman Marko Tagle (22-14) or Vianney junior Luke Turmelle (29-11). The task would get much more difficult from there in all likelihood.
190 Pounds — Cooper Hammontree, Jr., 24-8
One of four four-time qualifiers, Hammontree (25-8) finished third in District 4 and now firmly sits in medal contention with the No. 7 ranking. He draws unranked Sikeston sophomore Sam McGill (26-5) as a favorable No. 2 seed in the opening round.
The quarterfinal would be a different task with No. 4-ranked Fort Zumwalt East senior Dirk Rivera (38-7) and No. 5-ranked Darius Hendricks meeting in the first round. However, none of the four in that quadrant of the bracket have ever been to state before so good luck predicting the semifinalist.
The top contenders at the bottom of the bracket to reach that round include Carl Junction junior Marcus Lopez-Durman (No. 2, 34-3) and Winnetonka senior Doone Taylor (30-7) but Kearney sophomore Carter Temple (39-3) — the District 4 champion, 175-pound state champion as a freshman and overwhelming favorite in this bracket — sits on the opposite side.
Win or lose, Hammontree’s second match should be very difficult so advancing past McGill becomes essential and barring an upset in the first round somewhere else would set up a very manageable path to a state medal in his debut.
215 Pounds — Cole Johnson, Jr., 22-5
In two previous state trips, Cole Johnson went 0-2 as a freshman and 1-2 as a sophomore — both at 175. He never reached full strength due to injury last season, and the expectation now will be to move up to the medal stand, especially entering with a No. 4 ranking and a third-place finish in easily the state’s toughest district at this weight.
Johnson (22-5) does open with unranked Warrenton senior Lucas Burroughs (29-14) in a seemingly beneficial draw that could lead to a quarterfinal matchup with either No. 9-ranked Vianney sophomore Robert Eatherton (36-8) or No. 10-ranked Jefferson City junior Luke Jenkins (21-5), who went 0-2 at state while up at 285 as a sophomore.
If Johnson can hold ranking and reach the semifinals to guarantee his firs state medal, the top contenders to be the opposite opponent would be No. 2-ranked Smithville junior Haze Middleton (32-10) or No. 3-ranked McDonald County freshman Stevan Benhumea (28-7).
Middleton went 0-2 at state in his only other appearance as a freshman at 165, meaning the finalist on the top half of the 215 bracket will be a first-time medalist.
285 Pounds — Quinn Lightle, Jr., 18-2
Undefeated going into districts after a late start due to football season running into early December and then some injury issues in January, Lightle earned his first trip to state the hard way, losing a quarterfinal and coming all the way back before losing to the same opponent in the third-place match. He drew the worst possible first round match with the top two wrestlers also coming out of District 4, which has four of the top six in the rankings.
Lightle faces No. 3-ranked Hillsboro junior Griffin Morris (25-5) in the opener. He’s a third-time qualifier who missed the medal stand at 285 by one mach each of the last two years.
Either result puts Lightle in a strong position by ranking with McDonald County senior Miguel Melendez Cassia (28-16) and St. Charles junior DeRay Coleman (24-18) in the neighboring matchup. Neither is ranked.
However, without an upset of Morris, Lightle likely hits either Helias sophomore Zyan Knollmeyer (No. 8, 32-6) or St. Michael the Archangel junior Brodie Purtle (No. 2, 32-7), who went up a weight class for districts after moving up from Class 2 following a 1-2 showing at state at 190 a year ago.
GIRLS
115 Pounds — Charley Sims, Jr., 28-6
A first-time qualifier who finished as district runnerup, Sims goes into state at No. 6 with a first-round matchup against unranked Francis Howell senior Evie Ryan (20-8), also making her first trip to state. The winner would seem most likely to draw No. 5-ranked Eureka junior Kirra Dunscombe (40-6) in what appears the most wide open quarterfinal in the bracket.
Dunscombe went 0-2 at state as a sophomore, also at 115.
The top half of the bracket does include No. 1-ranked Lebanon senior Jessa Joiner (40-1), a two-time defending state champion who placed third as a freshman at 110. However, Sims can help extend Platte County’s medal streak by reaching the semifinals. The backside would be manageable with a Day 1 loss but the most likely route seems to be direct based on how wrestlebacks could shake out.
135 Pounds — Giada Cucchiara, Sr., 29-14
Just the fourth district champion in program history, Cucchiara moves up to No. 5 in the rankings but faces a difficult route to the semifinals. She opens with unranked Seckman junior Nadia Steinhoff (25-15), but even a win results in either Francis Howell Central senior Nevaeh Smith (No. 2, 41-8) or Nixa junior Brylee James (No. 7, 36-11). Smith finished third at 130 a year ago and plays the role of semifinal favorite in the quarter.
Cucchiara, who missed all of her junior season rehabbing a torn ACL, went 0-2 in her first trip to state as a first-year sophomore. If she can get her first state win in the opening round, she likely would draw an unranked opponent in the second round of wrestlebacks with No. 9-ranked Waynesville freshman Addison Brown looking like a potential matchup to reach the medal rounds.
140 Pounds — Ava Blankenship, Fr., 24-18
Just the second freshman state qualifier in program history, Blankenship goes into state unranked after one of the most unique district tournaments in the state. She wrestled barely over a minute total with a pin in the quarterfinals before advancing to the title bout via forfeit after her semifinal opponent failed to make weight on Day 2.
Blankenship lost in the final to No. 10-ranked Fort Osage sophomore Madison Lightner (31-18), who recorded a pin in the first period.
The bracket for Blankenship opens against No. 8-ranked Troy senior Brooke Dollard (34-16), who went 0-2 in her state debut as a junior at 140. Blankenship does bring dangerous ability to throw opponents but would need an upset to reach the quarterfinals, which would likely involve No. 3-ranked Parkway West senior Lucy Moore (39-9).
A loss puts Blankenship on the backside likely against unranked Carthage sophomore Irish Lee (27-10).
