Unbeaten Rampley leads Jackson's district charge into district

Jackson's wrestling team has had nine individual state champions in school history, and six of those have finished without a loss.

Kremer Rampley, a senior 160-pound wrestler, will try to become the school's seventh undefeated state champion when he and the rest of the Indians start the road to the state championships with the district meet today at Jackson. Wrestling is set to begin about 10:30 a.m. with the finals set for 6 p.m. The top four finishers in each weight class qualify for the sectional meet.

Rampley said he does not feel any added pressure trying to keep up his perfect record.

"When you're in a match you don't think about your record," he said. " You just think about beating the guy who's there."

Rampley, a district winner and state qualifier at 145 pounds last season, is 39-0 heading into the district tournament.

Jackson coach Steve Wachter said Rampley's season comes from hard work.

"His work ethic, that's probably the main thing," Wachter said. "He's also a very smart individual. He's had a strong season and the tribute goes to himself. He knows how to make himself better."

Other defending district champions for the Indians include Cody Rouse and Brock Howard. Both Howard and Rouse were state qualifiers last season along with Greg Ludwig. Blake Ulrich and Kamden Rampley also placed in the top four at districts last season.

"If everyone does as well as they should, we have a chance of the team being district champions," Rampley said. "We'll just have to see how it goes."

Other teams making their way to Jackson for the Class 3 District 1 meet will be Eureka, Fox, Mehlville, Northwest (House Springs), Oakville, Poplar Bluff, Rockwood Summit and Seckman.

"This is a tough district," Wachter said. "I'd say that Kansas City is the toughest, and ours is probably the next toughest district in the state. Fox is outstanding and Northwest is very good. Oakville has a real strong team and so does Seckman. And Eureka is the defending district champions."

Central will be at Ste. Genevieve High School for the Class 2, District 1 meet.

The Tigers, a relatively young squad this season, finished 6-4 in dual meets and had a strong fourth-place finish at the conference meet. Central had three wrestlers make the championship match at the conference meet, with Chris Griffith (112), Jonathan Poston (125) and Cory Huskey (152) each finishing second.

Other teams in the district include Affton, De Soto, Farmington, Hillsboro, North County, Sikeston, Ste. Genevieve and Windsor.

jjoffray@semissourian.com

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