Former Junction City Blue Jay wrestlers gathered Friday night at the Courtyard By Marriott Convention Center to start a new tradition, the annual JCHS Wrestling Alumni Reunion.

The coordinator of the event Henry Petty estimated about 15 attended. He noted Riley County Commissioner Marvin Rodriguez and former Blue Jay wrestler was among those attending, “who was on the original wrestling team that started in 1960.” Petty said Rodriguez remembered the beginning of the program where a shop teacher at the high school had connections with Oklahoma wrestling that helped develop the squad. “They just announced they were having it, and they went out and started from there.”

Some of the former wrestlers in attendance include Tim Cowan, John Powers, Tim Rudolph, Jan Rudolph and former head coach Ben Bennett.

This reunion was put together on fairly short notice so the turnout in future years is expected to increase.

The Junction City Blue Jay wrestling team finished third out of 12 teams in the JCHS Invitational on Saturday at the Shenk Gym.

Blue Jay coach Bob Laster said out of the 12 Junction City wrestlers, 10 placed in the top four of their individual weight class. “That’s one of the big reasons that I was happy.  Another reason was that we were able to get three guys into the finals. ” One of them, Kenson Henderson won the title at 220 pounds, while another Terrance Adelye capture first at 182 pounds via tiebreaker after going 4-1.

Also for Junction City, C.J. Neuman finished second at 145 pounds, Sadiki Smith second at 170, Russell Wilkey third at 152, and Max Bazan third at 132 pounds.  Finishing fourth for Junction City were Blaine Danford at 113 pounds, Matthew Whitten at 126, Logan Roether at 138 and Arturo Chavez at 145 pounds.

Lawrence Free State won the team title, Kapaun Mt. Carmel was second and Junction City third.

A technical foul in the closing minutes of the Junction City Lady Jays 59-53 loss to Leavenworth Saturday in the 2018 Firebird Winter Classic helped tip the outcome in favor of the Pioneers.

The game was tied 53-53 when a foul was called on Junction City,and just seconds later  a technical foul on the Lady Jays. Leavenworth proceeded to hit two of four free throws, and because of the technical retained possession of the basketball. They turned that possession into two more points and went on two hit late free throws after Junction City was forced to foul in the closing seconds.

It was a game in which it appeared the Lady Jays had a chance to win. Coach Derek Petty explained the situation after the game. “Our point guard decided to say something to someone on the floor and the ref overheard and teed her up.” Petty later added you can’t do that, and you need to have basketball smarts.

Junction City ( 3-10 ) finished sixth in the tournament hosted by Lawrence Free State, going 1-2 in three games. Wichita South won the tournament championship by defeating Washburn Rural in the title game 44-40.

Junction City will host Highland Park next Friday.

 

The Junction City Blue Jays held off a late charge by Topeka High to defeat the Trojans 55-51 at the Shenk Gym Friday night.

Junction City Trailed in the first half but then jumped out to a seven point with over one minute remaining in the ballgame. The Trojans cut the lead to two and had the ball in the closing seconds but were denied any more points. Two late Free throws by A.J. Dickerson in the closing seconds sewed up the win for Junction City ( 5-8 ).

Xavier Cason had a big night for the Blue Jays with 20 points. His coach Nick Perez said, “Xavier was big for us, 20 points. I don’t know how many rebounds he had but he had to be in the teens. He was just unbelievable. ”

The Blue Jays host Highland Park next Friday night.

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The Junction City Lady Jays ( 3-9 ) snapped a four-game losing streak with a 74-63 win over Olathe West in the consolation semifinal round of the 2018 Firebird Winter Classic in Lawrence.

Lady Jay coach Derek Petty pointed to first-half execution by his team as a key. “We executed in the first half. We played good, tough defense.  We got after them full court, created a lot of turnovers, made easy baskets for our ourselves, and we coverted and then got out to a big lead.”

Olathe West rallied back to within five points in the fourth quarter but the Lady Jays put together finish to get the victory.

Junction City will play Leavenworth in the fifth place consolation game in the tournament at 10 o’clock Saturday morning. You can hear the game on 1420 KJCK, The Talk of JC.

The new Junction City High School wrestling alumni association will host a meet and greet Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. at the convention center.

The coordinator Henry Petty explained they will try to get former wrestlers, cheerleaders and fans together. He is hoping a minimum of 50 to 60 people can attend. This will tie in with the JCHS wrestling invitational on Saturday. “The thing will be a two-day, the meet and greet on Friday, the tournament on Saturday, then after that we’re all going to meet up at Coach’s.

Petty is excited for this event. “Been a long time since a lot of us have gotten together in this form and possibly it’s never happened in this way so we’re real excited about it. ”

Petty is planning to make this an annual reunion event.

Sumner Academy outdueled the Junction City Lady Jays ( 2-9 ) 78-63 in the first round of the 2018 Firebird Winter Classic Thursday in Lawrence.

The Sabres cleaned up on the offensive boards enroute to the win. Lady Jay coach Derek Petty felt his team should have defeated Sumner. “We don’t want to get after basketballs. We give up offensive rebounds off the free throws they’re shooting, offensive rebounds on their misses.”

Junction City led by 6 points in the second quarter 24-18 but by halftime trailed by a score of 37-31.  The Lady Jays also battled foul problems in the ballgame.

Junction City will meet Olathe West in a consolation semifinal game in the tournament at 4:45 p.m. Friday. Olathe West fell to Washburn Rural in a first round game 56-29.

The Junction City Blue Jay wrestling team went 3-1 in dual competition in the dual tournament hosted by Emporia on Saturday.

According to coach Bob Laster Junction City defeated Independence, Emporia and Olathe North but lost to Derby, the current number one ranked team in Class 6A.

Four Blue Jays finished first in their individual weight class competition. Zane Thornton went 4-0 at 120 pounds, Max Bazan 3-0 at 132, C.J. Neuman 4-0 at 145 and Sadiki Smith 4-0 at 170 pounds.

Junction City finished the dual portion of their season with a 9-2 record. The Blue Jays will host the JCHS Invitational on Saturday at Shenk Gym.

A member of the Junction City Blue Jay basketball team, A.J. Dickerson, was named to the All Tournament Team this past weekend at the McPherson Invitational.

Dickerson averaged 16.3 points per game for the Blue Jays, who went 1-2 in the tournament and finished in seventh place.

McPherson captured the team championship.

 

A free throw in the closing seconds by Tye Dale of Junction City proved to be the winning point for the Blue Jays in a 56-55 overtime victory over Blue Valley West in the seventh place consolation game of the McPherson Invitational on Saturday.

Junction City ( 4-8 ) led by six points with 30 seconds remaining in regulation but two 3-point baskets by Spencer Bain of Blue Valley West ( 3-8 )  tied the game at 49 all at the end of regulation.

Blue Jay coach Nick Perez noted his team was 4-10 at the free throw line, but they finally made some free throws. “We’ve got to learn to close out games. ” Perez stated it was good to come to the tournament and get a win. “I think our guys were hungry, and I give it to Blue Valley West, they played extremely well to and they’re well coached.

Perez added he was happy for his team, noting they’re excited. “We know that we’ve got to start building off this. We’ve got to get better each time. It was a tough, hard fought game.”

Junction City will host Topeka High next Friday night.

 

 

 

The Junction City Lady Jays rallied from a 24-point halftime deficit to within eight in the third quarter, but came up short in a 67-52 loss to Topeka High in the capitol city Friday night.

The Lady Jays, ( 2-8 ) will play in the Winter Firebird Classic 2018 next week on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Lawrence Free State High School. Their first-round opponent will be Summer Academy of Kansas City on Thursday.