Three Tigers wrestlers survive first day at state

Central senior Chris Griffith could not wrestle in Thursday's opening round and first wrestlebacks at the state high school wrestling meet in Columbia, Mo., but his three Tigers teammates that did wrestle survived the first day.

"This is first time since I've been head coach we still had all our kids alive entering the second day," Central coach Josh Crowell said Thursday night. "I'm extremely proud they all came through. They all battled back or won their first-round match."

Central junior Garrett New went directly to the quarterfinals by winning his first-round match. A district champion at 152 pounds, New won his opener 5-4 against Alex Belosi of Wentzville Holt.

Also for Central, competing in Class 3, Matt Latham and Tyler Yeargain advanced through the first wrestlebacks after dropping their openers.

In the first round, 125-pounder Latham lost a 4-2 decision to Blake Robbins of Branson, while Yeargain lost a 9-3 decision to Corey Carr of Park Hill at 130 pounds.

Latham bounced back to beat Randy Grimes of Lee's Summit West 5-4 in wrestlebacks, and Yeargain won an 18-1 technical fall against Nathan Wagemann of Wentzville Holt.

Central is tied for 28th place in the team standings with 5 1/2 points.

Jackson in top 10

Jackson advanced four of its five wrestlers through the first day, including two in the winners bracket.

The Indians racked up 11 points to stand in a three-way tie for 10th place.

Senior Kamden Rampley improved to 51-0 by pinning Kevin Wisniewski of Fort Zumwalt South in 1 minute, 59 seconds.

Senior Sean Gant pinned Ron Henry of Riverview Gardens with 4 seconds remaining in their 152-pound division match.

The Indians suffered three first-round losses. Russell Brown lost a 20-6 major decision to Mike Gagliano of Fort Zumwalt West at 140; Ben McMillian lost a 1-0 decision to Ryan Greco of Blue Springs at 145; and heavyweight Cole Jansen was pinned by Jayson Palmgren of North Kansas City at the 3:47 mark.

McMillian and Jansen came back to post wins in the first round of wrestlebacks.

McMillian defeated Brian Patrick of Pattonville 4-0, and Jansen rolled to an 11-2 major decision against Miles Lischer of Francis Howell Central.

Brown was eliminated from the tournament with a 5-3 loss to Dominique Thornont of Hazelwood East.