COLUMBIA - One to go for Jackson Careaga.
The Helias junior advanced to the title match at 152 pounds with a win by fall in 2:39 against Garrett Ruby of Hannibal in the Class 3 state championships Friday night at Mizzou Arena.
Careaga (46-6) will meet Sam Frankowski of Rockwood Summit today for the title. Frankowski (48-1), a junior, advanced with an 8-3 overtime win against Trevor Christian in his semifinal.
Careaga is ranked No. 3 at 152 by MissouriWrestling.com, while Frankowski is No. 1.
Careaga got a takedown with :25 remaining in the first period against Ruby. Starting on top in the second period, Careaga worked Ruby onto his back for the pin.
The championship round is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
Careaga advanced to the title match with a 9-5 win Friday afternoon against Alec Rothman of Neosho.
The Crusaders will have two other state medalists.
Aleksey Salaz, a junior, dropped his semifinal match at 126 to top-ranked Cayden Auch by fall in 3:22 on Friday night.
Auch had a takedown in the first period to take a 2-0 lead. He then got an escape and takedown midway through the second before getting the win by fall.
Salaz (36-8) will compete in the fourth round of wrestlebacks starting at 9:30 a.m. today, then wrestle for either third- or fifth-place in a round starting at noon.
Evan Winder will pick up the fourth medal of his high school career after winning a pair of matches Friday at 132.
Winder, a senior, came back from a 5-1 loss to Nathan Pulliam of Rolla in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon to defeat Leyton Manley of Kearney and Caleb Benshoof of Grain Valley in the wrestleback rounds.
Winder (30-5) defeated Manley 12-4 and Benshoof 6-4 in overtime to advance to join Salaz in the wrestleback and medal rounds.
Two other Crusaders finished one win short of earning a medal.
At 106, Gavin Adams finished 1-2 on Friday.
Adams fell 9-6 to Christian Finley of Willard in the quarterfinals. He then defeated Dillon French of Festus by fall in 1:44 before losing 4-2 to Wyatt George of Republic in the third-round wrestlebacks.
Adams, 2-2 at state, finished his junior season at 46-8.
At 160, Dustin Luebbert also was 1-2 on Friday.
Luebbert dropped a 9-5 decision to Jerrett Villinger of Warrenton in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon. Luebbert then bested Ian Cordell of St. Mary's 11-3 before falling 2-1 to Nolan Saale of Platte County on Friday night.
Luebbert, a two-time state qualifier, ends his senior season at 37-13 after going 2-2 at state.
Helias enters today's action ninth in the team standings with 53 points.
Neosho is first in the standings with 123.5, followed by Kearney (110.5), Smithville (91) and Pacific (84).