In a wild sequence to wrap up the Pirates’ state wrestling on Championship Saturday, the Platte County wrestling team accomplished a rare feat: the Pirates earned two gold medals in less than sixty seconds.
Shortly after Jaydon Walls won a state championship in the 195-weight class, KayLyn Munn and Jake Fernandez were simultaneously on separate mats cattywampus of one another. With a chance for each Pirate to win their first career gold medals, they didn’t disappoint.
Munn was in a rematch of last year’s state championship with Catherine Dutton from Central (Springfield) and the 194-pound Pirate senior clinched the first gold medal in the short history of the Platte County girls’ wrestling program with a 2-0 decision victory. The dial of a clock couldn’t do one full cycle from the moment that Munn became a state champion to the time Fernandez also reached the same triumph.
In the 220-weight class championship match, the Platte County sophomore was in a battle with Van Horn senior David Lewis. Platte County head wrestling coach Reggie Burress told the Platte County Citizen what it was like walking from Munn’s mat to Fernandez’s mat to witness the Pirates’ third state champion.
“In 195, we wrapped that match up and got a state title from Walls and then we had two people on the mat on the same time: Munn and Fernandez. Munn beats the girl who beat her in the state finals last year, then I turn around and Jake has a 2-1 late lead in his match and ended up winning – it was craziness all at once and it feels so good,” Burress said.
Before Platte County’s historical sequence at Mizzou Arena, Walls secured the first gold medal in the 195-weight class championship match. Walls capped off his career with an 8-2 decision win over Bolivar’s Blake Goodman.
In a wild sequence to wrap up the Pirates’ state wrestling on Championship Saturday, the Platte County wrestling team accomplished a rare feat: the Pirates earned two gold medals in less than sixty seconds.
“I thought we were the favorite in that match, and we scored in the first period. After we scored, I thought it was pretty much over and the rest is history,” Burress said.
Eli Rocha (160) and Blaine Keuhn (170) also brought some hardware back to Platte County to end their Pirate wrestling careers. Rocha earned a silver medal after Whitfield’s Gavin Linsman defeated him with an 11-2 major decision in the championship match, while Keuhn ended with a fifth-place medal after a 7-1 decision victory over Jefferson City’s Clayton Hurley.
Jared Parsons’ (145) and Ben McDaniel’s (160) wrestling careers wrapped up when they were eliminated in the wrestlebacks on Feb. 18. Parsons lost on a 3-1 decision to Willard’s Caleb Caldwell and McDaniel was defeated on a 5-4 decision to Festus’ Peyton Shaver.
Platte County sophomore Caden Hulett lost his final two matches after taking down Willard’s Shawn Lang on a 2-0 decision on his state debut. In the quarterfinals, Kaden Purler (North Point) won by 5-1 decision and in the next round, Hulett was eliminated by John Nguyen (Winnetonka) on a 7-5 decision.
“Eli in the 138 comes in and gets to the finals for the first time and now he is a four-time medalist for us. For Ben and Jared, I’m glad they came down here and both won a match and contributed for the team, and Caden is a sophomore so it’s good for him to get this exposure and he’ll be back next year,” Burress said.
While Munn was the only state medalist on the girls’ side, Platte County’s other senior state qualifier, Elizabeth Humburg, had her career come to an end after going 1-2 at Mizzou Arena. After being pinned in 21 seconds against Webster Groves’ Talia Lee, Humburg won by fall against Belton’s Brionna Madden in 4:37, before being eliminated by Excelsior Springs’ Jacey Brewer on a 6-4 decision.
In her first trip to state, junior Audrey Call lost back-to-back matches after pinning Maria Ignatova of Ft. Zumwalt West in 4:21. Call was pinned by Amitira McNack (Clinton) in 1:27 and Emily Neumann (Eureka) in 4:50 to end her junior campaign with a 34-7 overall record.
“For the girls, Humburg and Call have been working really hard for the past year on getting better and better and they were both able to come down here and win a match; then Munn caps it off with the first state title in girls’ program history,” Burress said.