Wilson captures 160 crown, Jackson wins team title

~ The Indians had three wrestlers win individual championships.

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. -- Central wrestler Zach Wilson liked the feeling of being on the top step of the podium.

The junior made his first appearance there Saturday after winning the 160-pound championship at the Marquette Invitational.

Wilson had finished third at Fort Zumwalt and fifth at the Tiger Classic in Cape Girardeau.

"I've got a rack on the wall where I keep my medals, and this one is going to stand out," Wilson said. "It seems like I always get third place in tournaments. This feeling is going to motivate me to work harder so I can get up there again."

Wilson had three pins in his four wins in the pool portion of the tournament, and then came back from a 5-0 deficit against Jackson freshman Ryan Marble to get the late first-period pin.

"He had me on my back and I was just able to flip him onto his back and get the pin," Wilson said. "I was shocked and happy with the result."

Wilson was the only Tigers wrestler to compete in a championship match in the 10-team tournament.

Jackson had an outstanding day, winning the team title and advancing eight wrestlers to the championship round.

"We just wanted to come out here and wrestle hard against some good competition," Jackson coach Steve Wachter said. "I was anxious to see how we would do after the Christmas break, and I was happy with how hard they competed. The guys we expected to do well, did well. And we had some young wrestlers come out and shine."

Jackson had three individual champions.

Junior Doug Froemsdorf won at 125 pounds. He had a second-period pin of Dylan Roper of Eureka in the final.

Senior Justin Miller won a 5-3 decision in the final at 152 pounds against Corey Lockwood of Lee's Summit.

And junior Blake Peiffer had a second-period pin the championship match at 215 pounds against Zack Hayes of Parkway North.

Five other Jackson wrestlers came back with second-place medals -- sophomore Clay Rouse (112), sophomore Josh Scott (119), senior Jamie Schumacher (145), Marble (160), and freshman Michael Riney (171).

Jackson finished with 348 points. Parkway North, which was coming off a team title in the 16-team DeSmet Holiday Tournament, was second with 320 points and Eureka was third with 299 points.

Central finished seventh as a team, two points ahead of Mehlville.