COLUMBIA - The Jefferson City Jays had three wrestlers finish second in their weight classes on their way to a second-place team finish in the Hickman Tournament that concluded Saturday.
"I'm so proud of the kids, we really overachieved this weekend," Jays coach Phil Cagle said. "To finish second as a team and not have an individual champion really says something about our team."
The Jays finished with 254 points in the 21-team event. Edwardsville (Ill.) was first with 371.5, while Lee's Summit North was third with 236.5.
Clayton Hurley at 132 pounds, Brant Aulber at 182 and Brandon Backues at 220 all were runners-up for the Jays.
Hurley finished 4-1, winning twice by fall. Hurley dropped a 2-1 decision to Michael Taylor of Republic in the title match.
Aulber was 3-2 with all of his wins by fall. Aulber lost 16-4 to Zane Ragland of Lee's Summit North in the championship match.
Backues was 5-1 with four wins by fall in the event. He fell 8-5 to Jadyn Withrow of Joplin in the title bout.
"All three of those guys wrestled above their seeds and had very good tournaments," Cagle said.
Will Kuster was third at 145 for the Jays. He went 4-1 in the tournament, including a 3-0 victory against Hunter Ross of Lee's Summit North in the third-place match.
Mathias Wieberg was fourth at 285 for Jefferson City. He was 4-2 with three wins by fall. Wieberg lost by fall to Monroe Mills of Father Tolton in the third-place match.
Anakin Gray at 106 and Sam Rackers at 152 were both fifth.
Gray was 2-3, with a 6-5 win against Henry Kaiser of Lutheran: St. Charles in the fifth-place match. Rackers was 4-2 in the tournament. He defeated Will Zupanci of Edwardsville 3-1 in the fifth-place match.
Garrett Butel was sixth at 113, finishing 2-4. He lost an 8-5 decision to Carter Wilhelm of Northwest: Cedar Hill in the fifth-place match.
Gabe Zimmerman was seventh at 160. He was 3-3 and won by fall against Zach Tran of Rock Bridge in his final match.
Michael Friedrichs at 138 and Dawson Prenger at 170 were both ninth. Friedrichs was 3-2 with two wins by fall, while Prenger was also 3-2 with all of his victories coming by fall.
Josh Copeland finished 2-3 and was 10th at 195.
Christian Strope at 120 and Hutner Walling at 126 were both 13th in their respective weight divisions. Strope was 3-4 n the tournament, while Walling was 2-5.
The Jays will return Tuesday to Hickman to wrestle a dual against the Kewpies.