Central wrestling team tries to improve conference standing

With a pair of dual victories this week, the Central wrestling program will head into the SEMO Conference wrestling tournament today at North County High School in Desloge, Mo., with momentum in hopes of improving on last year's fourth-place finish.

The tournament will be a two-day affair this year with the addition of Herculaneum bringing the number of teams to 11. Farmington is the defending champion, scoring 337 points to Jackson's 307 last year.

Central coach Josh Crowell said the Tigers' victories at North County on Tuesday and at home against Rockwood Summit on Thursday give the team something to build on.

"Hopefully that momentum will help carry us," he said.

Cory Huskey and Chris Griffith both reached the finals in their weight classes at the conference tournament last year, and the Tigers have seven wrestlers seeded fourth or higher this year.

Jackson will look to bring home its 15th conference title with returning conference champs Cody Rouse and Blake Ulrich leading the way. Kamden Rampley and Sean Gant also made it to championship matches last season.

The Indians already have a tournament title under their belts, claiming their second straight Tiger Classic in December.

"It will be very competitive," Jackson coach Steve Wachter said. "Farmington has a very good team."

Stoddard tourney begins

The eight-team Stoddard County Athletics Association boys basketball tournament will begin Monday at Bloomfield High School, with local squads Bell City, Advance and Woodland in action.

Dexter owns the top seed and will open against No. 8 Bloomfield on Tuesday. Bell City drew the second seed and will play the nightcap at 8:30 p.m. Monday against No. 7 Richland. The other varsity matchup on Monday has No. 3 Advance playing No. 6 Woodland at 5:30 p.m. Puxico, the fourth seed, will play No. 5 Bernie on Tuesday.

The semifinal round is Thursday, and the final will be 8:30 p.m. Friday.