COLUMBIA - There were some pretty good wins and some tough defeats.
It was an opening round of extremes Thursday night for the Jefferson City Jays at the Class 4 state wrestling championships at Mizzou Arena.
"We're not displeased with our performance today, this is the state tournament and you're going to see the best of the best wrestlers in Missouri," Jays coach Phil Cagle said.
The Jays won three of their seven first-round matches.
Garrett Butel got the Jays off to a good start Thursday, winning 7-4 against Mitchell Huber of Fort Zumwalt West at 113 pounds.
"Garrett had a very good match," Cagle said.
Butel scored the lone points of the first period on a takedown to take a 2-0 lead. The senior then extended his advantage to 7-3 after two periods.
"Garrett is wrestling very well, he's wrestling smart," Cagle said. "He's not making many mistakes."
Will Kuster was a 9-0 winner against Anthony Chellew of Seckman at 145.
The Jefferson City junior got a takedown and nearfall points in the first period to take a 4-0 lead. Kuster got an escape and a takedown in the second period to extend his advantage to 7-0 after two periods.
Kuster closed the match with another takedown midway through the third period.
"Will just dominated that match," Cagle said. "He was very physical, always on the go."
Will Berendzen picked up Jefferson City's other victory, winning by disqualification against Vince Restivo of Liberty North.
"Will got a little lucky, but that happens sometimes," Cagle said.
It is unknown what caused the disqualification. But Restivo was one of a handful of Liberty North wrestlers who were disqualified Thursday.
Four Jays dropped their first-round matches, but three remain alive in the tournament after winning their wrestleback bout later Thursday night.
At 132, Clayton Hurley lost by fall in the third period to Andrew Godier of Francis Howell Central in the first round. But the Jefferson City freshman came back to win 11-8 against Brandan Herrera of Liberty North in the wrestlebacks.
Sam Rackers of the Jays fell 3-1 in overtime to Braden Vaugier of Jackson in the opening round at 152.
The match was scoreless after the first period. Rackers got an early escape in the second period to take a 1-0 lead. Vaugier then tied the match with an escape early in the third period and the match went to overtime knotted at 1.
Vaugier picked up a takedown with :07 remaining in overtime to get the win.
"Sam wrestled a very good match, it just came down to overtime," Cagle said.
Rackers rebounded to win by fall in :44 against Thomas Renz of Timberland in the wrestleback round.
At 220, junior Brandon Backues remains alive in the tournament after going 1-1 on Thursday.
It was a scoreless first period in his opening round match against Austin Wegener of Lafayette: Wildwood. Wegener then got six points in the second period to take the lead. Backues got a takedown with about :30 remaining in the third period and fell 6-2.
"He got behind and he couldn't catch up," Cagle said.
Backes won his wrestleback match with Cole Mueller of Holt by medical forfeit.
Jefferson City sophomore Brent Aulber went 0-2 on Thursday.
Aulber lost by a first-period fall to Colton Hawks of Holt in the opening round, then lost by third-period fall to Cole Amelunke of Jackson in the wrestleback round.
It was the state debuts for both Hurley and Aulber.
"If they can learn some things in their first trip here, that can do nothing but help them down the road," Cagle said.
It was a bit of a tough day for the Jays.
"You're never happy here," Cagle said. "We just have to overcome this and continue to battle for the next two days."
The quarterfinals and second-round of wrestlebacks begin at 1:30 p.m. today, with the semifinals and third-round wrestlebacks starting at 6 p.m. On Saturday, the fourth round of wrestlebacks will begin at 10 a.m., followed by the third- and fifth-place matches. The title matches are slated for a 4 p.m. start.