COLUMBIA - The first round was barely concluded Thursday night before thoughts were headed toward today.
"The second round is always a tough round," Jays coach Phil Cagle said after four Jefferson City wrestlers advanced to today's action in the Class 4 State Championships at Mizzou Arena.
"We know how tough it's going to be and we know we have to take things one step at a time."
The Jays brought four district champions to state and all four won their first-round matches.
"It went the way we thought it would," Cagle said. "We're pretty happy with it."
Hunter Neighbors got the Jays off to a good start, winning by fall in 2:25 over Brett Rounkles of Park Hill South at 112 pounds.
Neighbors, a junior, led 2-0 after one period before making quick work of Rounkles in the second.
Cole Baumgartner got a bit of a scare early in his match at 119 before taking an 8-4 decision over Sam Stinebrook of Lindbergh.
Baumgartner, a two-time medalist, gave up an early takedown before evening the match with a reversal. Stinebrook started to get away near the edge of the mat with about :15 left in the period, but Baumgartner recovered to get three back points to take a 5-2 lead.
"That turned the match around," Cagle said.
From there, Baumgartner was in full control. After a scoreless second period, Baumgartner got an escape and takedown to take an 8-2 lead.
"Cole wrestled smart the rest of the match," Cagle said. "He got some more points and didn't let himself get caught up in anything dangerous."
That was because Baumgartner used good body control and didn't give Stinebrook any opportunities to score.
"That's something all of our guys are very good with right now," Cagle said.
Jared Johnson ran his record to 48-0 with win by fall in 2:38 over Chris Repple of Fox. Johnson got a takedown and back points to lead 5-0 before Repple picked up a reversal. Johnson quickly answered with one of his own to lead 7-2 after one period.
"He came back and did the things he normally does," Cagle said.
That would be win decisively. Starting up in the second period, Johnson worked Repple to his back to get the fall.
J.J. Johnson got the Jays' third victory by pin in the round at 285 pounds, beating Daniel Vaughn of Hazelwood West in 2:53.
It was a scoreless after the first period. But those were two valuable minutes for Johnson.
"That was a good first period," Cagle said. "(Vaughn) was v-blocking his chest and we knew we'd get our opportunity."
That opportunity came early in the second period. Johnson got an escape :15 into the period, then got Vaughn on his back to win by fall.
Laree Hutchinson, the Jays' fifth qualifier, was eliminated from the tournament with a pair of losses Thursday at 215.
The senior lost by fall in 2:30 to Jacob Matyiko of DeSmet in the first round, then fell in the same time to Phillip Stanley of Marquette in the first round of wrestlebacks.
Hutchinson ends the season at 25-20.
The Jays enter today's action in seventh-place in the team standings with 14 points. Seckman leads with 25.5, followed by Francis Howell Central at 24.5 and Blue Springs at 24.
The Class 4 quarterfinals will start at 1:30 p.m. today. The semifinals and third-round wrestlebacks begin at 6 p.m. Action will conclude Saturday.