The Jefferson City boys track and field team didn't think it would be in contention to win a district championship - not at the beginning of the season, anyway.
The Jays came close but eventually took second to Rock Bridge in the Class 4 District 5 meet Saturday at Adkins Stadium.
"If you would have told me at the start of the year we were going to be top-two at districts, I would have said, "Sign me up,'" Jefferson City coach Dan Ridgeway said. "We lost everybody and it was a rebuilding year."
The Bruins finished with 127 points, while the Jays came in second with 115 and Battle was third with 88. Rolla (67.50), Smith-Cotton (57.50) and Camdenton (50.50) rounded out the top-six teams.
"You're never happy with second place, but at the same time, we lost a lot of really good seniors from last year," Jefferson City senior Lucas Theroff said. "We were right there, so that's aways good when you can get pretty close to winning, but it still leaves a bad taste in your mouth - especially after coming off winning a district title last year."
Despite losing most of its state qualifiers from last year's team, which also won a district title for the first time since 2007, Ridgeway started seeing the potential his young group had as the season progressed.
That's why he thought the Jays had more to offer Saturday.
"Today I'm (mad) that we didn't win it," Ridgeway said. "We were seeded first as far as seeded points, but we had a few hiccups and Rock Bridge had a phenomenal meet. That's the way it is in track some times."
Austin Chiagrom, Mervyn John, Rajae Scott and Theroff all earned first-place finishes to lead Jefferson City, which led Rock Bridge 112-90 with two events remaining.
The Bruins went on to sweep the top-four spots in the 3,200-meter run to earn 29 points and take a four-point lead going into the 4x400-meter relay.
"I kept seeing that one, two, three, four on the heat sheet with Rock Bridge and I knew we were going to have to have some people in other events place higher than they were seeded to overcome that," Theroff said. "We knew it was going to be close going into the meet and we knew they had those guys there. We knew it was going to be a long shot to get somebody up there to break them up."
Rock Bridge took second in the 4x400-meter relay, while the Jays were received a disqualification.
But it wasn't the last two events that proved to be a difference-maker, according to Ridgeway.
"I could tell earlier in the meet, there were a few events where we didn't score where we should have," he said. "Rock Bridge was scoring where they were't supposed to score, so I could tell at least halfway through the meet that something was going to have to change."
John took second in the 110-meter hurdles and triple jump, while Zane Coleman finished second in the discus. Chiagrom placed third in the long jump and was fourth in the 300-meter hurdles to help lead the Jays.
Jefferson City's 4x100-meter relay team of Chiagrom, John, Carson Ridgeway and Elijah Pittman earned a top finish, while the 4x800-meter relay team also took second to earn a trip to the sectional meet.
"It's better than not placing at all," John said of the Jays' result. "You want to hold that trophy in your hand."
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