Cameron Mckee News Today

It was just the start to the Central Missouri Activities Conference schedule the Jefferson City Jays wanted. Coming off a CMAC title last year, the Jays picked up their first conference dual victory of the season Thursday with a 59-21 victory against the Sedalia Smith-Cotton Tigers at Fleming Fieldhouse.

It was a strong opening weekend of wrestling for the Jefferson City Jays. Jefferson City took second place in its six-team pool at the Missouri Duals, then the Jays dropped both matchups in bracket play to finish fourth out of 12 teams Saturday at Rackers Fieldhouse.

It was a strong start to the season for the Jefferson City Jays. The Jays opened the first campaign of Darrell Luebbert’s tenure as the head coach with a 2-1 record on Day 1 of the Missouri Duals at Helias Gym on Friday. The Jays opened their season with a 48-27 win against Marshall, then dropped a 42-32 decision against Father Tolton before rebounding with a 35-30 win against Hannibal.

Logan Montoya heard a pop. During his quarterfinal match Friday morning in the Class 3 state wrestling championships, the Helias junior thought something went wrong in his knee. “I was a little concerned, nobody likes to think about a tear in their knee,” Montoya said. “We think it might be a torn meniscus. But I knew there were just two matches left in the season, so all I could do was wrap it up and gut it out.”

It was a familiar finish for Joe Kuster. Familiarity isn’t always welcome. The Jefferson City senior finished fourth at 150 pounds in the Class 3 state tournament Saturday afternoon to earn his third state medal. All three are for fourth.

It wasn’t as if you blinked, you missed them. But it was close, as Carter Prenger of Helias won both of his matches by first-period falls Friday to open the Class 3 state wrestling championships at Mizzou Arena.

Joe Kuster was prepared for the moment. After posting a quick win by fall in the opening round of the Class 3 state wrestling championships Friday at Mizzou Arena, the Jefferson City senior was in a battle in his quarterfinal match.

The Jefferson City Jays took a chance. It paid off win a winning way. “We had a plan and the kids executed the plan,” Jays coach Nathan Redcay said Wednesday night after Jefferson City defeated the Helias Crusaders 42-21 in a Central Missouri Activities Conference dual at Fleming Fieldhouse. “They really wanted this win and it showed.”

The Blair Oaks boys wrestling team is getting closer to full strength, and it showed Tuesday night. Blair Oaks won a pair of duals at Blair Oaks High School, defeating Capital City 57-20 and Jefferson City 41-24.

The numbers just didn’t add up for the Helias Crusaders. “We just gave up too many bonus points, that was a big factor,” Helias coach Weston Keleher said after the Crusaders dropped a 51-19 decision to the Neosho Tigers in the final match Saturday afternoon in the Missouri Duals at Rackers Fieldhouse. “When you give up six falls, that’s an extra 18 points there.