Aryus Jones of Junction City will wrestle for the Class 6A 182 pound weight class state championship.

The Blue Jay senior has advanced to the finals in the 182 pound class where he will wrestle against Jesse Nunez of Garden City on Saturday night. He will be the only Blue Jay wrestling in the finals  at Hartman Arena in Park City.

Three other Blue Jay wrestlers reached the 6A semifinals before losing. They included Max Bazan at 126 pounds who fell to Jevon Parrish of Olathe North,  John Clark at 152 who fell to Jalin Harper of Manhattan, and Kamari Smith at 160 pounds, who lost to Terrell Garraway of Olathe North.

The state tournament continues on Saturday.

KJCK AM, The Talk of JC, will have coverage throughout the day from Hartman Arena.

The Junction City Blue Jays led by three at halftime, and in the closing seconds had the ball down one point. But Junction City was unable to make a final shot, and the Washburn Rural Junior Blues sealed a 59-56 win at Shenk Gym with two free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining. The Final score….Washburn Rural 59 Junction City 56 on Senior Night for the Blue Jays.

JCHS coach Nate Schmitt had a lot to be proud of in the effort by the Blue Jays. “I’m proud of our guys. I thought they played their tails off, and they played for one another.” Some early third quarter turnovers, missed free throws in that period, and a couple of defensive mistakes for the Blue Jays were factors noted by the coach. “If we’re getting to the point that those are the only mistakes that we’re making we’re definitely improving.”

A. J. Dickerson led Junction City with 19 points, including five 3-point baskets. The Junior Blues improved their record to 16-4.

The Blue Jays ( 4-16 ) will play at either Manhattan or Derby in the first round of the Class 6A Substate Tournament Wednesday, depending on which of those teams wins a Saturday coin toss when the pairings are set.

In the girls varsity game Washburn Rural jumped out to a big early lead and never trailed enroute to a 71-44 victory over Junction City. Brianna Jensen led Junction City with 10 point.

The Lady Jays will play at Derby in a Class 6A first round substate tournament game on Thursday.

 

The Junction City Blue Jays qualified five wrestlers during the Class 6A Regional Tournament in Hutchinson for next week’s Class 6A State Tournament in Park City.

The list of qualifiers from the regional for Junction City included:

–Aryus Jones, who finished first in the 182 weight class at the regional and was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament

–Kamari Smith, who was second at 160 pounds

–John Clark, third at 152 pounds

–Max Bazan, sixth at 126 pounds

–Jeffrey Walters, 6th at 220 pounds.

Garden City captured first place in the team standings in the 16-team regional with 191 points. Manhattan was second with 189.5, while the Blue Jays finished 11th with 95 points.

The 6A state tournament is February 24th and 25th at Hartman Arena in Park City.

 

 

 The Seaman Vikings opened up a big lead in the second quarter and rolled on to a 66-43 victory over the Junction City Blue Jays in boys basketball at Seaman Friday night.

The Vikings post player, Tanyon Schafer led all scorers with 22 points, while A.J. Dickerson scored 14 for the Blue Jays, who fell to 4-14 on the season. Seaman is 12-6.

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In girls Seaman rolled to a 50-37 win over the Lady Jays. Alana Kramer finished with 10 points for Junction City, while Katera Mayfield had 11 for Seaman.

Junction City is 3-14 on the season, while Seaman improved to 11-7.

Junction City teams host Manhattan on Tuesday.

A. J. Range scored 18 points for the Junction City Blue Jays ( 4-13 ) from his post position, but it wasn’t enough as Topeka West defeated the Blue Jays 63-50 in the capitol city on Tuesday night.

Junction City coach Nate Schmitt noted when the Blue Jays get him the ball Range does a fantastic job. “We were doing that early on in the game. We were sticking to the game plan, we were having some success. He’s a college basketball player, he’s 6’4, over 200 pounds and when he gets the ball he does a pretty good job of scoring it. I just wish that we could get it to him more, but I thought he did an excellent job.

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In the girls varsity game Topeka West rolled past Junction City ( 3-14 ) 51-35 . The Chargers outscored Junction CIty 26-15 in the second half to break open that game. Ally McKenzie led the Lady Jays with 15 points.

Junction City teams play at Seaman on Friday night.

 

The Junction City Lady Jay volleyball team has achieved All Team Academics from the Kansas Volleyball Association. The Lady Jays qualified with a 3.88 grade point average.

On Monday the Association also announced their All Academic First Team and Honorable Mention selections. First team honorees from Junction City included Reece Boland, Delani List and Rylee Zimmerman. The All-Academic First Team consists of those players with a 4.0 GPA or higher, while those with a 3.75 to 3.99 GPA received Honorable Mention.

Honorable Mention honorees from Junction City included Savannah Adams, Siera Bowman, Emily Buckland and Ryan Coffman.

To qualify for the First Team and Honorable Mention recognition the athletes had to be in good standing and have letter on the varsity for the 2016-17 volleyball season.

The Junction City Blue Jays jumped out to a 12-4 first quarter lead over Shawnee Heights, but weren’t able to hold onto it as the Thunderbirds rallied back to take a 26-19 lead at halftime. In the second half the Thunderbirds started strong and went on to win by a 59-44 score.

Junction City coach Nate Schmitt thought his team got off to a good start offensively, adding he was pleased with the way the Blue Jays were getting the ball inside and the shots they wanted. Schmitt noted they played well defensively as well, but then Shawnee Heights went to a 2-3 zone, and Junction City could not score. “We’re not a great shooting team, we’re just not a very good shooting program. I think high school, middle school youth, that’s something our basketball community needs to spend some time doing, because it’s a talent, it’s a craft, you have to work at it.”

Junction City will play at Topeka West on Tuesday and Topeka Seaman next Friday.

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In the girls varsity game Shawnee Heights defeated the Lady Jays 70-47.

Lady Jay coach Derek Petty said Shawnee Heights played hard and did what they had to.

But the Lady Jays struggled. “We talked about what we wanted to do before the game started for 10 to 15 minutes, and went over it, and we went out on the floor and we go out on the floor and we have no clue what to do.” Petty pointed to lack of focus as the problem.

Emporia rallied from a big deficit to take the lead over the Junction City Blue Jays late in their boys basketball game, but a Tye Dale pass across the lane to DeAndre Eaves was converted into a layup in the closing seconds for Junction City, forcing overtime between the Blue Jays and Spartans.

The Blue Jays, with Lonnie Autry hitting all but one free throw in overtime, went on to defeat Emporia 74-72.

The win was the first Centennial League victory for Junction City this season. JCHS coach Nate Schmitt said he was proud of the way his team never quit. “And probably the last minute of the game, and then in overtime I kind of took a step back. That was all the kids.”

Junction City improved to 4-10 with the win. Autry led the Blue Jays with 17 points, while Xavier Cason had 16, A. J. Range 12, and A.J. Dickerson 11 points for them. Dylan Farr scored 18 points to lead Emporia.

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In the girls varsity game Emporia dominated for four quarters enroute to a 67-37 victory over the Junction City Lady Jays.

Junction City fell to 3-11 with the loss.

Junction City boys and girls teams play at Hayden Tuesday night.