Jackson, Barton, Nichols Earn State Medals

                 By Jim Wieners

McCluer North Wrestlers Solomon Jackson and Cayelon Barton and Hazelwood West Swimmer Jessica Nichols take home Missouri State High School Activities Association medals Feb. 20, although they did not win state titles.

At the Class Four State Wrestling Championships at Mizzou Arena — University of Missouri, Columbia — Jackson, a junior, finished fifth at 220 pounds while Barton, a senior, finished sixth at 195. At. the St. Peters Rec-Plex Nichols, a senior, finished eighth in the 50-yard Freestyle.

WRESTLING – Solomon Jackson — who won Class Four, District Two Feb. 13 at Francis Howell — won his first two rounds to assure himself of a state medal but a last-second 6-5 semifinal decision loss to Raytown’s Dominique Hampton ended his hopes of a state title. Jackson rebounded from a 7-3 fourth-round wrestleback decision loss to Francis Howell’s Cole Long to win the fifth-place match, a 6-5 decision over CBCs Derek White in a rematch of a quarterfinal round won by Jackson, an 8-3 decision.

Barton lost two matches to Park Hills Jacob Sobbing, a 6-4 decsion in the first round and a 1-0 decsion in the fifth-place match. Barton won three wrestleback rounds before losing a fourth-round wrestleback major decision (12-2) to Jefferson City’s Jalen Martin and to Sobbing. Barton took third in District Two.

In Class Three Hazelwood East juniors Fedrick Johnson (106) and Antonio Jenkins Harris (138) won Distrtict Two Feb. 13 at Fort Zumwalt North but were finised at state Feb. 19 as Johnson was eliminated in three rounds and Jenkins Harris in four.

   SWIMMING – Jessica Nichols swam in the 50 Freestyle finals in 24.41 seconds after qualifying for the finals with an eighth-place finish, 24.36 seconds, in the preliminaries. Nichols won three medals, finishing fifth last year (24.2 seconds) and eighth in 2014 (24.87 seconds). She did not medal in 2013 finishing 14th (25.03 seconds).

Nichols competed in state all four years in the 100-yard Freestyle but ended up in the consolation finals the last three years Jessica Nichols including 15th on Feb. 20 (53.96 seconds), 13th last year (53.68 seconds) and 15th in 2014 (54.57 seconds).

DIVING — McCluer North senior Sarah Miller qualified this year and last in the One-Meter event at the St. Peters Rec-Plex but faliled to quaify each year, finishing 22nd Feb. 20 (147.95 points).

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