Michael Smith
The Fort Osage girls wrestling team is flying under the radar.
Despite having some success with winning multiple tournaments during the 2023-24 campaign, the Indians are not ranked in the top 10 of MissouriWrestling.com’s Class 2 team poll.
They went against two teams ranked in the top 10 – No. 3-ranked Liberty and No. 7-ranked Park – in the Class 2 District 4 girls wrestling tournament.
Wrestler Interviews
- Fort Osage head coach Jesse Reser
- Alexis Stinston, Liberty (235)
- Kendall Angelo, Oak Park (190)
- Autumn Calvert, Winnetonka (170)
- Sadie Gropper, William Chrisman (155)
- Adalia Del Real, Grain Valley (155)
- Zayla Vann, Raytown South (145)
- Keya Butler, Grain Valley (145)
- Sevi Aumua, Grain Valley (140)
- Rylin Beatty, Park Hill (135)
- Lina Vargas, Park Hill (125)
- Allison Kraemer, Fort Osage (130)
- De’Naya West, William Chrisman (130)
- Allison Gonier, Park Hill (120)
- Naomi Bernard, Fort Osage (120)
- Maya Saldivar, William Chrisman (115)
- Aroma Marrufo, Fort Osage (110)
- Ava Myers, Park Hill (105)
- Sandy Breeden, Liberty (105)
- Elena Moore, North Kansas City (110)
- Killian Evans, Blue Springs South (100)
Despite the stiff competition, Fort Osage ran away with first place as a team, scoring 162 points Saturday at Platte County High School. North Kansas City took second with 118 points and Liberty was third with 114.5.
The wrestlers who placed in the top four of their weight brackets advanced to the Class 2 Missouri State High School Wrestling Tournament, which will take place Jan. 23-24.
Fort Osage had two girls who won their brackets in seniors Aroma Marrufo (110) and Allison Kraemer (130).
Others to qualify for the Indians were Mikayla Sitckler (100, fourth), Frankee Cordato (115, third), Naomi Bernard (120, third) and Kylie Dunn (125, fourth).
“We had a group of sophomores and freshman that wrestled really well this weekend,” For Osage head girls wrestling coach Jesse Reser said. “We only had one sophomore qualify but we had some freshman who scored some key team points for us.”
Marrufo is looking for her first state championship after finishing as a runner-up last season. She will have a good chance of doing so as she is the No. 1-reanked wrestler in her division according to MissouriWrestling.com.
On Saturday, she faced a familiar opponent in Liberty junior Jaden Breeden in the championship match. Marrufo defeated her for a third time this season, grinding out 3-0 victory.
“We both know what we like to do very well,” Marrufo said of facing Breeden. “Today I took some shots that I would usually finish. Those didn’t work out very well. I kept trying to work on two on ones. That’s how I took her down.”
Kraemer, on the other hand, will get her first shot at the state tournament and will be in a good position to make a run as a one-seed in her bracket. On Saturday, she was excellent on defense, turning a near takedown from Winnetonka’s Jorgie Johnson and got a takedown of her own in the third period as the Fort senior won 6-2 in the finals.
“I wanted it really bad,” Kraemer said. “I felt her about to get a takedown and I did everything I could to get that takedown. I circled my legs to get that two.”
Below is a breakdown of the championship matches and the state qualifiers of each weight bracket:
100: Defending state champion Lilly Breeden of Liberty is the favorite to win state championship once again in 2024. The No. 1-ranked sophomore topped No. 3-ranked Killian Evans of Blue Springs South 7-1 in the title bout.
State qualifiers:
1st: Lilly Breeden, Liberty
2nd: Killian Evans, Blue Springs South
3rd: Joanne Dinh, Staley
4th: Mikayla Stickler, Fort Osage
105: No. 2-ranked Sandy Breeden of Liberty will head to Columbia with a No. 1 seed in tow as she defeated Northtown’s Juliana Tice by fall in 4:45.
State qualifiers:
1st: Sandy Breeden, Liberty
2nd: Juliana Tice, North Kansas City
3rd: Ava Myers, Park Hill
4th: Suzette Mendez, Oak Park
110:
State qualifiers:
1st: Aroma Marrufo, Fort Osage
2nd: Jaden Breeden, Liberty
3rd: Elena Moore, North Kansas City
4th: Ellie Marrah, Staley
