JACKSON WRESTLERS CROWNED 3A, DISTRICT 1 CHAMPS

FARMINGTON -- To say that Jackson High wrestling coach Bruce Thomas was elated Saturday would be an understatement.

Thomas had just seen his squad win the Class 3A, District 1 Tournament held at Farmington. To claim top honors, the Indians had to finish ahead of powerful Ste. Genevieve, which had been the dominant wrestling team in Southeast Missouri all season.

"This was just a tremendous victory for us," said Thomas. "We all know much talent Ste. Genevieve has. They just didn't wrestle very well and we wrestled super."

Jackson totaled 185 points. DeSoto was second with 179 and Ste. Genevieve third with 166. Farmington placed fourth (144), New Madrid County Central fifth (89), Dexter sixth (32) and Potosi seventh (3).

In addition to capturing team honors, the Indians qualified a whopping 12 of a possible 13 grapplers for next Saturday's sectional meet at DeSoto.

"We're real happy about that," Thomas said.

Evidence of how well the Indians wrestled as a team comes from the fact Jackson had just one individual champion, Chris Hinze, who claimed the 125-pound title by beating DeSoto's Tim Pope 17-11 in the finals.

"We only had one champion, but we wrestled extremely well in the wrestlebacks and we pinned people early," said Thomas. "We really got after it. All those cliches you hear in sports, about team efforts and all, was true for us today."

Hinze continued his strong season, which made Thomas proud.

"Chris is just a tough little kid," said the coach. "He really gives you everything he's got."

Placing second for Jackson were Jeff Edmunds at 103 pounds, Randy Koehler at 112, Andy Hancock at 130, Andy Harrison at 135, Todd Reiminger at 140, Chris Jaco at 145 and Clint Thomas at 152.

Josh Gast (119), Len Waldron (171) and James Hamlin (heavyweight) all finished third while Larry Woods (189) was fourth.

"They all did a really good job," said Thomas. "Like I said, we got off to a good start with some early pins and I think that kind of demoralized Ste. Genevieve. They've got a heck of a team but it was nice to finally get them."

The Dragons had been first at both the Cape Central Tiger Classic and the SEMO Conference Tournament. In addition, Ste. Genevieve had beaten Jackson in a dual during the season.

Edmunds and Gast are only freshmen, but they will be among the sectional participants next Saturday.

"They're really a couple of promising young wrestlers," said Thomas. "They should only get better."

Looking ahead to the sectional meet, Thomas said, "It's going to be tough but hopefully our kids will continue to wrestle as well as they did today. If they do that, then I'll be proud of them."