SHS qualifies five wrestlers for state

FARMINGTON - The Sikeston Bulldogs wrestling team qualified five out of seven sectional competitors for the Class 2 State Tournament in Columbia on Thursday.

The tournament will run through Saturday at the Hearnes Center.

The sectional meet, held in Farmington, saw the Bulldogs qualify the same five wrestlers that made it last season.

"Sending five out of seven is a good day," said Sikeston head coach Chris Hodgkiss. "We're in a tough district and a tough sectional, so to get five through, I think we wrestled well. We've already sat down as a team and our goal is to finish in the top 10 in the state. We believe that we can get two or three guys to place and two or three guys to win some matches and score some points for us. That's what we're shooting for."

Lance Berry (160 pounds) had the highest place, finishing in second place with a 5-2 loss to the University City representative. Berry went 2-1 in the tournament

Kyle Weeks (135), Scotty Keenan (171), Andy Croxford (215) and Joe Johnson (heavyweight) all went 3-1 to take third place.

Weeks broke Jerry Winberry's school record for pins in a season by notching three pins on Saturday. He now has 26 pins this season.

Johnson just missed making the finals, falling 6-4 in the semifinal round to Farmington's Nathan Spain, who is ranked third in the state.

Tony Reynolds (145) and Malcolm Williams (189) went 0-2 and 1-2 respectively and did not qualify.

It's Weeks' and Johnson's third appearance each. Berry, Keenan and Croxford are all making their second appearance.

"Andy Croxford had a good tournament. The last couple weeks of the season, Andy wasn't really wrestling as well as he'd like to. But just like last year, he turned it on at the right time. He started wrestling well at districts and he continued it (Saturday). 215 is a tough weight class and he came through both tournaments and place third in both. I was real proud of the way he wrestled."

Of the five, only Johnson placed at the state tournament last year, finishing in fifth place to achieve all-state status.