Blue Jays Third in JCHS Wrestling Invitational

One-half point is all that separated the second and third place teams in the JCHS invitational Saturday at the Shenk Gym.

Aryus Jones ( right ) of Junction City wrestled in the championship finals of the 160 pound weight class competition. He won the match.

Derby outdistanced the field in the team competition with 207.5 points. Wichita Kapaun Mt. Carmel finished second with 131.5 points, followed by Junction City with 131.

Blue Jay coach Bob Laster was pleased about his individual weight class champions, and the fact the Blue Jays received a team trophy. “But I really felt like that we had an opportunity to finish in the top two.”

First place finishers for Junction City included Jake Bazan at 145 pounds, Jeryl Denton at 152, and Aryus Jones at 160 pounds. Gabe Padilla finished second at 126 pounds, Downey Wood third at 138, Malik White fourth at 285 pounds, and Jaquan Robinson fourth at 170 pounds for Junction City.

Laster saw a lot of good for his team in the invitational, but also noted there were a couple of matches the Blue Jays lost because they weren’t in shape. “And at this point in time in the season that should not be in play. So I’m going to take blame for that one. So that means during practice I’m going to have to pick it up and make sure that that is not one of the reasons.”

The Blue Jays host Shawnee Heights in a dual match Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. at the Shenk Gym.