The Jefferson City Jays are going to have to find some room on their letter jackets.
First, for the Central Missouri Activities Conference Tournament title they won Saturday. Then they can wrap up the CMAC season title with a victory Tuesday night in a dual against the Rock Bridge Bruins.
"If we can win that one, that's two patches," Jays coach Phil Cagle said after Jefferson City had six individual champions Saturday at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"That's a nice number," Cagle added. "We're happy with that."
Jefferson City won the seven-team event with 200.5 points. Helias was second with 178, while Hickman and Rock Bridge tied for third with 108.
"We wanted to wrestle to our seed or higher and we mostly did that," Cagle said.
Joe Kuster claimed Jefferson City's first title Saturday, winning at 138 pounds. After a first-period fall in the semifinals, Kuster defeated Carson Hayes of Helias by a 3-0 decision to take the title.
Jefferson City then closed the tournament by winning the title at the final five weight classes. Four - Will Berendzen at 170, Jakeil Hayes at 195, Brant Aulbur at 220 and Isaac Enloe at 285 - all won their championship matches by fall. Michael Friederich at 182 won his title by a major decision.
"That's overachieving, that's what we preach," Cagle said.
Getting the bonus points with wins by fall helped Jefferson City stretch the final point margin. Hayes and Enloe won both of their matches by fall. Aulbur's only match in the tournament came for the title as there were only three wrestlers in his weight class.
"We thought coming in they would be really important and they were," Cagle said.
Berendzen won the title at 170 with a 12-3 decision against Everett Wood of Sedalia Smith-Cotton. Friederich won by a first-period fall against Cameron Cornman of Hickman to take the crown at 182.
Hayes won at 195 with a second-period fall against Bahshi Traylor of Capital City before Aulbur won by fall in the second period against Jackson Hazel of Smith-Cotton. Enloe captured the crown at 285 with a second-period fall against Drew Nichols of Rock Bridge.
Taking second for Jefferson City were Da'Juan Wallace at 106 and Braden Werdehausen at 120. Wallace fell 8-7 to Gage Lock of Helias in his title match, while Werdehausen lost 6-2 to Helias' Jack Lage.
Hunter Walling at 132, Trae Hendricks at 152 and Clayton Hurley at 160 were all third for the Jays. Dominic Stafford was fourth at 113 as Jefferson City brought most of its varsity team to the event.
"I wouldn't take this chance away from them," Cagle said. "It's a opportunity they might not have again."
The Jefferson City-Rock Bridge dual at Fleming Fieldhouse wraps up the regular season for the Jays, who are 5-0 in CMAC duals this season.
Jefferson City will host the Class 4 District 6 Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 13, before going Feb. 27 to Ozark for the sectional tournament.
III
The Jefferson City Lady Jays finished third Saturday in the CMAC Tournament.
The Lady Jays scored 68 points in the six-team field. Hickman was first with 84, while Smith-Cotton was second with 78.
"They've had a great season so far," Cagle said. "It's a group of wrestlers that are working hard to improve."
Makayla Wallenmeyer at 112 pounds, Vanessa Guevara at 122 and Lydia Hudson won individual titles for Jefferson City. Savena Hees at 143 and Kenzie Moore at 174 were both second.