The Jefferson City Jays will face several tough opponents in today's opening round of the Class 4 state wrestling championships today.
And so will their opponents.
"You've got to wrestle tough opponents some time, but they have to wrestle us as well," Jays coach Phil Cagle said as Jefferson City's 10 qualifiers prepared for the tournament at Mizzou Arena.
"That's how you have to look at it."
The Jays will be taking a veteran team to state. Seven of the 10 qualifiers have been to the tournament at least once.
"That's going to help," Cagle said. "They know what they have to do."
Among the veterans are Jefferson City's three district individual champions - Logan Moriarity at 160 pounds, Jalen Martin at 195 and Logan Coil at 285.
Moriarity is a two-time medalist, finishing fourth at 120 as a freshman and third at 145 last season as a sophomore. Moriarity (40-2) opens against Emilo Monsivais of Holt (jr., 27-22). If he can advance to Friday night's semifinals, Moriarity would likely face Connor Flynn of Francis Howell (jr., 42-0).
"There are some good wrestlers on his side," Cagle said. "But if he can come out of it, that's going to be pretty good for him."
Martin (48-2), who was fourth at 170 as a sophomore last season, enters the tournament with the most wins of any wrestler in his weight class. Martin opens against Noah Robinson of Lafayette (jr., 6-8).
"You never overlook anybody at the state tournament," Cagle said.
Coil (38-8), who qualified at 285 as a junior, will square off against Zane Shaddox of Liberty (soph., 35-11) in his first-round match.
Cagle believes the 285-pound division may be the most balanced of any at the tournament.
"There are some very good heavyweights in this state right now, probably 10 or 12," he said. "I think if you wrestled the heavyweight class every weekend, you'd get a different result every weekend.
"It's going to be a matter of who's on for this tournament. It's not going to be easy to be a medalist."
Other Jays qualifiers include:
• At 113, freshman Peter Kuster (38-9) will open against Carter Thomas of Park Hill South (fr., 21-16).
"It's a kid he can compete with," Cagle said.
• At 120, senior Corbin Howard (34-3) will meet Charles McNeal of C.B.C. (sr., 37-9). Howard was fifth at 120 last year.
"That has the potential to be a great match, especially coming in the first round of the state tournament," Cagle said.
• At 126, sophomore Christian Mayberry (37-8) opens with Terrell Pamokin of McCluer North (sr., 27-13). Mayberry was a qualifier at 126 last season.
"Christian is really coming on strong," Cagle said.
• At 132, sophomore Dennis Barnes (18-7) will meet Hunter Roberts of Park Hill (sr., 30-10). Barnes was a qualifier at 106 as a freshman.
"We've got a fight in that match, but it's one we can win," Cagle said.
• At 138, junior Tanner Irwin will square off with Efe Osagae of McCluer North (jr., 33-4), a qualifier at 126 last season.
"Tanner wrestled the best he has all season at districts," Cagle said. "I saw a determination in his eyes and hopefully that will carry on."
• At 145, junior Jacob Brune (35-5) will meet Tyler Emerson of Parkway South (sr., 32-10). Brune was fifth at 132 last season.
"We think Jacob has a chance to do well in his weight class," Cagle said.
• At 182, sophomore Rashaun Woods (33-19) will meet Josh Barnes of Fort Osage (jr., 33-9). Barnes defeated Woods in double-overtime last month at the Capital City Invitational.
"That's a match that can go either way," Cagle said.
Cagle believes the Jays can go 10-0 today.
"Everybody has an opportunity to win their first match," he said. "For some of them, it will be an uphill battle. But if they are mentally right, all of them can do it.
"It's going to come down to who makes the fewest amount of mistakes."
The Jays were mentally right last weekend in repeating as district team champions.
"It's just a matter of continuing on where we left off Saturday," Cagle said. "All athletics have about a 10-day peak period when you really get things rolling. We've tried to time ours and we want the end of the 10 days to be at the state tournament."
Cagle tabbed defending champion Park Hill as the team favorite. But he didn't want to project how Jefferson City might finish.
"We're just concentrating on that first match, everything else will shake out after that," he said. "It's been a great year for these kids. We're probably a better dual team than a tournament team right now, so we're going to have to step up. It's exciting."
The Jays were 14th last season.
"You are going to see some teams and kids step up and surprise people this weekend and hopefully that will be us," Cagle said. "We want to place as high as we can, place as many kids as we can. All of our kids want to place at state and it's in their hands.
"There are great wrestlers in each weight class that will not place, we just hope it's not us."
Action begins at 5 p.m. today.