The decision to go wasn't quickly made.
But the Jefferson City Jays decided they wanted to test themselves against some of the top wrestling teams in the country Friday and Saturday in The Clash XIV in Rochester, Minn.
"We didn't accept right away, but we looked at the team, at our kids, some of whom have lofty goals, and I think they deserve to go against competition like this," Jefferson City coach Phil Cagle said. "They've worked hard, they've sacrificed, their families have sacrificed.
"It's a reward for them."
The tournament will feature 32 teams from 14 states. The Jays were recommended to tournament organizers by coaches in Missouri.
"It's the No. 1 tournament in the country," Cagle said. "There are great teams there every year, teams contending for national titles.
"It's going to be a great trip, it will be fun to see our kids go up against the best in the country."
The tournament is broken down into four brackets of eight teams. On Friday, the teams will wrestle for places in their brackets. On Saturday, there will be eight four-team pools for round-robin competition between teams finishing in the same place in their brackets from Friday.
Jefferson City is in Bracket A and will open against Anoka, Minn.
The Jays will be taking around 20 wrestlers to the tournament. Jefferson City will double-up in some weight classes in addition to having depth in case of injuries.
Jefferson City has made trips to out-of-state tournaments a staple on its schedule in recent years.
"We like to go somewhere where we don't know anybody and they don't know us," Cagle said. "And there's no school and if you practice for that many days, you can lose them."
The senior class at Jefferson City lost their first dual as freshman and haven't lost a regular-season dual since. The Jays began their serious training for the tournament Saturday.
"When we go into any tournament, we just want to wrestle and see what happens," Cagle said. "We don't put a lot of pressure on ourselves. But the kids do take it seriously."
Jefferson City is ranked No. 1 in Class 4 by MissouriWrestling.com.
"That doesn't mean much," Cagle said. "Rankings for something for someone to do to fill some time. We don't worry about, we don't talk about it.
"It's nice, but our focus is the next match and to get better for February."
Park Hill, ranked No. 2 in Class 4, is also making the trip to Minnesota.
Jefferson City has a healthy respect for the upcoming competition. But the Jays aren't intimidated by it.
"Our opponents are going to see some good kids, too," Cagle said. "We don't want to be arrogant, we want to be humble and we want to go hard.
"Arrogance will get you beat, you have to stay focused and work hard."
Cagle said it is an honor for the Jays to be asked to participate in the tournament.
"We want to represent Jefferson City in a good manner," he said. "We may go up there and struggle, but it won't be because we aren't fighting. It will be because we just met somebody better."