Jaxson Shute and Evan MacCuish are Class 3 District 4 champions for the Platte County boys wrestling team and are among the Pirates’ 10 state qualifiers.
Platte County finished third as a team, just as last year with two individual champions, scoring 178 team points in this year’s district wrestling tournament at Belton High School on Feb. 21-22. The Pirates lost out to first-place St. Pius X (Kansas City) and second-place Kearney.
Shute made the jump from 106 pounds last year, where he won his first district title as a freshman, to 120 pounds this year. Still, he was able to defend his district title and deliver the Pirates 23.5 team points.
After three decisive victories to get back to the dis- trict finals, with a pair of major decisions and a technical fall, Shute’s championship match posed a different challenge. Despite not wrestling his best, Shute came out with his second district title, defeat- ing St. Michael the Archangel’s Parker Lutz in triple overtime and getting a 2-1 edge in the tiebreaker.
“I don’t think I wrestled my best match in the finals,” Shute said. “But I did enough to get the job done. I stayed in the match and kept the pressure on him.”
MacCuish, who finished second in districts last year and fourth as a sophomore, came back and got vengeance this year at 150 pounds. With a pair of technical falls on Day 1 and another in the semifinals on Day 2, the Pirate senior extended his career another week.
His semifinal victory set up another Platte County versus St. Michael the Archangel championship match. This time, MacCuish got his district title after forcing Brody Narron to fall at 5:20.
Platte County junior Grant Fadler also made it to the championship match in the 144-pound division but lost a 7-1 decision to Kearney’s Blaine Turpin, finishing as the runner-up.
The Pirates added four third-place finishers who battled through the consolation rounds to secure their spots at state: Cade Crawford (106), Darrell Smith (157), Cooper Hammontree (190) and Cole Johnson (215).
Three more Platte County wrestlers made it to the consolation finals but lost in the third-place match. They still advanced to state by finishing fourth in their respective weight classes: Hank Marriott (126), Jack Johnson (165) and Quinn Lightle (285).
In total, 10 boys will represent Platte County at the state championships, joining three girls qualifiers, with the tournament set to begin Feb. 28 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
“I’d say I’m wrestling at about 95% right now,” Shute said. “I’m trying to get a state title this year, so I just need to bump it up next week for state.”
Shute is excited about the opportunity to return to the finals but wants to come home with a state championship. As a runner-up last year, he has unfinished business.
“I’m pumped up and ready to go,” Shute said. “I’m ready to be in the finals again — and hopefully win this year.”