Eli Teiberis News Today

It was a good litmus test for the Jefferson City Jays in the final dual of the season. The Jays took on the Farmington Knights, ranked No. 6 in Class 3, Wednesday night at Fleming Fieldhouse and dropped a 40-22 final.

The extra points added up to a victory. The Helias Crusaders scored bonus points in seven of their wins Wednesday night on their way to a 41-27 victory against the Jefferson City Jays in Central Missouri Activities Conference wrestling action at Rackers 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.

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.

It took a trip through the alphabet to decide a winner. Eli Teiberis of Jefferson City defeated Justin Weiberg of Helias by decision in their 126-pound match to wrap up the third-place dual Saturday afternoon in the Missouri Duals at Rackers Fieldhouse. That made the score Jefferson City 34, Helias 34. There are no ties in wrestling.