The Jackson wrestling team finished off 2017 by placing fifth with a total of 322.5 points in the annual Kinloch Classic Dec. 29 and 30 hosted at Parkview High School.
Five Indians were able to place in the top five of their respective weight classes to score a combined 185 points, starting in the 113-pound bracket.
Sophomore Alec Bailey (24-2) was able to reach the championship match with three decisions and two pinfalls to face Rogersville’s Gabe Brandenburg (12-0).
The match lasted all three periods between Bailey and Bradenburg, but Bailey suffered his second loss of the season as he only scored two points to Bradenburg’s five to place second.
Also reaching a title match was fellow sophomore Cole Amelunke (24-4) in the 182-pound bracket.
Amelunke wrestled in a total of seven matches before competing in the championship against Windsor’s Ryan Yarnell, who is currently the No. 1 ranked wrestler at 182 pounds in Class 3 by Mis-souriWrestling.com.
Like the 113-pound championship bout, this match lasted all three periods as well with Amelunke falling to Yarnell by a 5-1 decision.
Junior Braden Vaugier (26-3) at 138 pounds and senior Owen Leible (16-4) at 285 placed third to finish in the top five for Jackson.
Vaugier wrestled in a total of eight matches in the tournament, winning his first four by fall, but lost 3-2 in a tiebreaker against Buffalo’s Ethan Smith (25-0) in the semifinals.
Vaugier went on to wrestle for third place against Raymore Peculiar’s Zach Brown (16-10), who Vaugier already defeated 3-2 in the fifth round.
Vaugier defeated Brown once again by decision, this time scoring seven points on Brown while still holding him to two through three periods to earn third overall.
Leible competed in seven matches, receiving one bye in the third round, but also fell in the semifinals like Vaugier.
Leible faced Ozark’s Jace Gorn (23-3), the No. 2 ranked heavyweight in Class 4, and only lost by one point in a 3-2 decision.
In the third-place match, Leible came out victorious to end the tournament against Rolla’s Justin Briggs via injury default 31 seconds into the third and final period.
The last top-five finisher for the Indians was junior Justin Singleton (24-5) at 170, who placed fifth in the tournament.
Singleton did not suffer a defeat until round five where he faced Ozark’s Tyson Albright (19-8), who defeated Singleton via decision, 10-7.
In consolation, Singleton pinned Rolla’s Jacob Phillips (8-14) in the first 11 seconds of the third period to advance to the fifth-place match.
Singleton went up against Marshfield’s Jordon Irwin (18-6) for fifth place to come out on top by a 3-1 decision.
Five other Indians finished in the top 10, which were 106-pound sophomore Riley Wiseman (ninth), 120-pound sophomore Grady Livingston (seventh), 145-pound sophomore Noah Uhrhan (eighth), 152-pound freshman Cole Parker (ninth) and 160-pound senior Jacob Dudley (eighth).
Jackson travels to Sikeston today to face the Bulldogs as well as Ste. Genevieve and Windsor. The Indians will then compete in the St. Charles Tournament on Friday and Saturday.
