It was a bit of a wild ride for the Helias Crusaders at the Missouri Duals.
Some highs, some lows. But in the end, the Crusaders got what they wanted out of the two-day event that concluded Saturday at Rackers Fieldhouse.
“A roller coaster, a lot of ups and downs,” Helias coach Weston Keleher said after the Crusaders finished 4-3 in duals and finished fifth in the 12-team event. “But we got to wrestle almost all of the good teams that were here and that’s what we wanted.
“We don’t care about dual records, we want to wrestle the best teams as much as we can. It can only make you better.”
Helias defeated Capital City 40-33 in the fifth-place match. The Crusaders and Cavaliers went back and forth before Helias won the final three matches to get the win.
Perhaps the biggest win came in the next-to-last match at 113 pounds, where Parker Lock scored a win by fall. Earlier Saturday, Lock lost a 13-2 major decision against Capital City as the Cavaliers defeated the Crusaders 40-36 to wrap up pool duals.
Lock, a senior, finished 5-2 in the Duals with three wins by fall.
Two Crusaders -- Eli Homan at 175 and Logan Montoya at 190 -- finished at 7-0.
Homan, a sophomore, had three wins by fall, one by technical fall and three by forfeit.
“He’s tough as nails,” Keleher said. “I said before the season I could see him winning a state title and I still believe that. He’s on that path.”
Montoya, a senior who won the state title at 175 last season, won five times by fall, once by technical fall and once by a major decision.
Daemon Duemmel at 106 and Alex Wieberg at 120, both freshmen, were 6-1.
Duemmel picked up three wins by fall in the first period, two by decision and one by forfeit.
Wieberg won five times by fall and once by decision. His loss was a 7-6 decision. Two of his wins by fall came with less than a minute remaining in the match.
“Alex is so tough,” Keleher said. “His toughness wins him a lot of matches, he gets a lot pins late in matches because he’s always fighting out there. He never gives up, no matter what the score is.
“He’s young, he’s got a lot of room to grow as a wrestler. But he’s doing well right now.”
In addition to Lock, other Crusaders to finish 5-2 in the Duals were Justin Wieberg at 138 and Blaine Curtis at 157.
Wieberg won four times by fall and once by major decision.
“It’s always an even keel with him,” Keleher said.
Curtis got four of his victories by fall and one by technical fall.
Hunter Barnhart was 4-3 with two wins by fall at 215 for the Crusaders. At 285, Bryce Allen was 2-3 and Zyan Knollmeyer was 1-1.
Finishing 2-5 for Helias were Evan Dunn at 126 and Aleksandr Careaga at 150. Ben Holee at 144 was 1-6.
Helias was open at 132 and 165.
“There was a lot of good fights out of the kids,” Keleher said. “Overall, being a young group, it wasn’t bad.”
Keleher is looking for his more experienced wrestlers to step up a little more in the practice room to help the development of their younger teammates.
“They have some work to do to get caught up,” Keleher said. “The coaching staff would love to wrestle the matches for them, half the fans in the stands today would love to wrestle the matches for them.
“But we can’t. The leaders need to help us clean some things up.”
Neosho won its third straight Missouri Duals team title with a 48-26 victory against Father Tolton. Eureka took third with a 44-19 victory against Jefferson City.
Helias is back in action Wednesday when the Crusaders head to Columbia to open Central Missouri Activities Conference action at Hickman.