COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Helias Crusaders achieved their No. 1 goal Thursday - staying alive.
The Crusaders took two wrestlers to the Class 3 state championships at Mizzou Arena and both advanced to action today.
"That's one more than we had last year, so that's good," Helias coach Jacob Wadley said.
At 126 pounds, Nick Gaines finished 1-1 on the day. He opened against Tyler Lawson, a 44-2 senior from Webster Groves. Gaines allowed takedowns in the first and second period and a reversal in the third in dropping a 6-0 decision.
"Nick kept attacking, he never quit, he kept going the entire match," Wadley said.
In the first round of wrestlebacks, Gaines squared off with Seth Brierly of Warrenton. Gaines controlled the pace of the match from the start. The sophomore led 2-0 after one period and 4-0 after two on his way to a 6-0 victory.
"He never counted himself out, that's what we asked of him," Wadley said. "He wrestled like Nick can wrestle."
Gaines (28-11) will resume his tournament in the second round of wrestlebacks today.
At 145, Jacob Schulte met Trenton Jaco, a 32-8 senior from Fort Zumwalt North, in his first-round match.
After a scoreless first period, Schulte scored a reversal in the second to take a 2-0 lead. Jaco, a district champion, got an escape with 1:15 to go in the match, but couldn't score again as the Helias senior posted a 2-1 victory.
"He wrestled a good match, but he put himself in a couple of iffy situations and that's something he has to fix if he wants to continue on in this tournament," Wadley said. "He needs to focus to move forward and if he can do that, he can go pretty far in this tournament."
Schulte (38-8) will face Josh Kinser (38-10), a senior from McDonald County, in today's quarterfinals.
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