Jayhawk wrestlers pick up pair of medals

BURLINGTON -- Jayhawk-Linn's wrestling team finished 12th out of 18 teams at the Burlington Invitational here Saturday.

The Jayhawks scored 57 team points. Prairie View was the team champion with 218 points followed by Burlington with 168 and Holton with 135.

Two Jayhawks took second place in their brackets: Alan Johnson at 215 pounds and Caleb Jackson at 285.

Johnson (3-1) was competing for the first time this season on the varsity level. He won his first three matches. In the first round, he pinned Burlingame's Wyatt Jones in one minute, 30 seconds. In the second round, he took an 11-6 decision over Burlington's Josh Withers, who was a regional champion for the Wildcats last season. Next for Johnson was a pin over Colin Duncan of St. George-Rock Creek. In the finals, he was beaten by Fredonia's Kendall Fiscus -- who placed fifth at Class 3-2-1A State last season -- in the second period.

Jackson (10-3) pinned his first two opponents, Chance Droege of Burlingame and J.J. Torres of Holton. He took a 10-1 verdict over Johnathan Jerred of Wellsville in the semifinals before he had to give up an injury default to Dennis Devadder of Holton in the finals.

Also competing for the Jayhawks:

* -- Mason Craig (0-15) lost both his matches at 112 pounds by pin to Gabe Gomez of Rock Creek and Nico Smith of Burlington.

* -- David Troth (2-14) lost both matches at 135 by pin to Cherryvale's Nick Hockett and Holton's Simon Proctor.

* -- Jarod Avery (3-11) also lost both his matches, wrestling at 140. He was pinned by Holton's Logan Mosier and DeSoto's Brandon Vukas.

* -- Tyson Baker (5-10) was 2-2 at 145 pounds. He pinned Holton's Gunner McKenna in his first-round match. In the second round, he lost a 9-1 decision to Burlington's Dan Myers. In consolation, Baker won an injury default over Darius Bowers of Howard-West Elk and lost to DeSoto's Cameron Magdaleno, 9-2.

* -- Quincy Hodges (5-9) was 1-2 at 152. He lost in the first round to Reed Williams of West Elk, 7-4. He then pinned Jorydan Doviak of Burlingame before losing to Jesse Campbell of Wellsville, 14-7.

* -- Briar Snyder (6-7) was 1-2 at 160. He took a 13-11 decision over Donnie Parr of DeSoto. He was pinned in his final two bouts by Rock Creek's Doc Treadwell and Holton's Josh Shields after holding five-point leads in each match, according to Jayhawk-Linn head coach Brett Kramer.

* -- Eli Walrod (6-5) took part in the tournament at 285 but wrestled "unattached," meaning he couldn't score team points. He was 1-2 as he was pinned by Devadder and Central Heights' Logan Hughes but recorded a pinfall over Brett Schaefer of Eskridge-Mission Valley.