KEARNEY, Mo. — Loren Patee wrestled in junior high but when she got into high school, her father didn’t think it would be a good idea for his daughter to continue the sport.
For her first two years of high school, Patee focused on cheerleading and playing softball for North Platte.
In her penultimate season of high school, the redheaded junior decided to come out and wrestle for the Mid-Buchanan wrestling team, part of a co-op with her school. She had familiarity with coach Jake Rumpf, who coached her in junior high.
Her father, knowing she would be wrestling against girls, gave the OK to compete again.
“I started back up my junior year and now I’m placing third and going to state,” she said. “It is surreal.”
Now, Patee can lay claim as the second state qualifier for the program after a third-place showing on Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Class 1 District 4 meet.
Patee and fellow North Platte student Haley Sampson will represent the Dragons at the state meet held Feb. 20-22 in Columbia. Sampson returns to state for the second year in a row.
The Dragons had the highest finish of the five local teams, by taking 11th place. Patee and Sampson, who both took third place, combined for 38 points.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Mid-Buchanan’s Loren Patee, top, gets ready to pin Marceline’s Sarah Kussman in a third-place match on Saturday, Feb. 8 in Kearney, Mo.
Patee posted a 4-1 mark at districts, winning two in a row to start by pinning Platte County’s Haley Burge and Truman’s Yazmin Soto. Staley’s Chloe Sheckless pinned Patee in the semifinals, but the senior responded with two more wins.
Her pin in 33 seconds over Liberty North’s Angel Sanchez-Hernandez guaranteed she would move on to the state meet. In the third-place match, Patee needed only 54 seconds to beat Marceline’s Sarah Kussman, getting a reversal and pinning Kussman by laying her back on top of her and sticking the shoulders.
“I’m so blessed to make it to state, that was my goal, obviously, but I wasn’t for sure,” said Patee, who will enter state with a 21-2 record. “Hailey and I were good friends. We were partners in junior high. I was proud of her for going to state last year. She was the first in Mid-Buch to make it to state. She made history. It is pretty cool to be the second.”
Sampson (115) also posted a 4-1 record and like Patee bounced back from a semifinal loss to a Staley wrestler. Sampson got pins against Brookfield’s Addison Pope and Smithville’s Jessie Edwards, before losing by a pin to Staley’s Lexi Hatfield.
Sampson secured her return to state with a 9-3 decision over Marshall’s Kenya Maqueda. In the third-place match, Sampson led 4-0 when she pinned Edwards in a rematch in 4:05.
Sampson is 28-2 heading into the state meet.
“They are two really good girls that work hard and they have done a nice job,” Mid-Buchanan coach Jake Rumpf said. “They both work hard. I had a really good group, going from one girl with Hailey to seven this year. Hailey started it all and it has been a good year. Hailey has paved the way for all of them.”
Two other North Platte students competed in districts: Ariana Hartigan (110) and Brooklyn Dunn (166).
Staley won the district title, followed by Cameron, Smithville and Kearney, Plattsburg and William Chrisman — the latter two tying for fifth — in the team standings.
WEST PLATTE
The Bluejays had only three wrestlers at the district meet and one of them had a chance to move on to state.
Selina Friedrid won her first two matches in the 110-pound class and reached the semifinals.
The junior pinned Alexia Cuadras of Guadalupe Center Charter and then pinned Kearney’s Carissa Nichols in 5:12.
Friedrid lost in the semifinals by a pin against Winnetonka’s Jordan Viles.
That sent her into the consolation semifinals where she lost to Lafayette’s Isa-Bella Mendoza by a pin to end her season.
The foreign exchange student from Germany finished the year 18-7.
She accounted for all eight points for West Platte, which tied for 34th place in the field.