JROTC Blue Jay Battalion competed last Saturday, January 30, at Abe Lincoln High School, Council Bluff, IA. The drill team brought home several trophies.
1st Place – Armed Exhibition
1st Place – Mason Perez, Individual Rifle Exhibition
1st Place – Mason Perez, Individual Drill Down
3rd Place – Armed Regulation
A Junction City Blue Jay standout, Raye Wilson, will play college football at Missouri Western State University, an NCAA Division Two school.
Wilson was an All Centennial League running back for the 10-1 Blue Jay team last fall, but before that in earlier seasons was a starter in the defensive secondary safety for Junction City.
According to the list of signees on the Missouri Western State athletic web site, Wilson is listed as a 5’11, 180 pound defensive back. Head Coach Jerry Partridge stated “Raye is a shutdown corner. We’ve had those here. ” Partridge also added, ” He has speed, feet, hips, length and confidence. We knew we wanted him from camps here.”
Former Junction City Blue Jay defensive back Christien ( Chip ) Ozores has signed a letter of intent with Fort Hays State, an NCAA Division Two School.
Ozores was an All Centennial League defensive back for the Junction City Blue Jays the past two seasons. His signing was confirmed by the university.
During the past two years Ozores was a member of Blue Jay football teams that went a combined 18-4.
The Junction City Blue Jay bowling team finished third out of 29 teams in the Great Plains Invitational at the North Rock Lanes in Wichita on Friday and Saturday.
Tyler Gromlovits of Junction City finished seventh in the boys individual competition with a 660 series.
The Lady Jays finished seventh out of 26 girls bowling teams in the tournament.
Kaylee Stutz of Junction City finished second in the individual competition with a 657 series.
The Junction City Blue Jays had two wrestlers claim first place titles in their weight class, and went on to finish third out of nine teams in the JCHS Invitational on Saturday.
Max Bazan captured first place at 113 pounds and Aryus Jones first at 160 pounds for Junction City. Kamari Smith finished second at 152 pounds, and
Coach Bob Laster credits Jones, who recently returned from a football injury last fall, to bringing another aspect to the mental part of the Blue Jay wrestling team. “We always tell guys, the guy that you wrestle with can make you better. And I think that’s what he’s doing with some of the guys on our team, as well as the physical part of our team . I think our guys have a guy to look up to and see how things are supposed to go, so I think that’s one of the big reasons for some changes going on with our team.”
Logan Roether finished in third place at 120 pounds, John Clark third at 145 pounds, and Tanner Bogenhagen fourth at 120 pounds for Junction City.
Team scores:
–Wichita Kapaun Mt. Carmel 165
–Shawnee Heights 163
–Junction City 128
–Shawnee Mission Northwest 78
–Salina South 77
–Highland Park 71
–Wabaunsee 62
–Atchison County 55
–Topeka West 28
Three Junction City Lady Jay players scored in double figures enroute to the basketball team’s first win of the season.
Junction City ( 1-12 ) defeated Wichita Southeast 69-51 in the seventh place consolation game of the Glacier’s Edge Tournament in Emporia.
Alana Kramer led the Lady Jays with 18 points, while Ally McKenzie scored 17 and Imari Williams 12 for Junction City.
The Lady Jays jumped out to a 20-17 lead over Wichita Southeast after one quarter, and led 39-32 at halftime.
In other games in the tournament, Olathe South won the championship with a 32-30 win over Leavenworth, Hutchinson defeated Goddard-Eisenhower in the third place consolation game 52-40, and Emporia downed Topeka West in the fifth place consolation game 58-16.
The JCHS Wrestling Invitational will be Saturday at the Shenk Gym.
Coach Bob Laster said nine teams will be competing, beginning at 8:30 a.m. One of the teams in the tournament will be Wabaunsee. “They have a pretty good team coming in.” Salina South and Topeka West are two other teams in the tournament.
Laster expects the championship round to begin around 4 p.m.
This is the only home tournament for the Blue Jay varsity wrestling team this season.
The Junction City Blue Jays ( 5-8 ) led by 12 points in the first half and by six in the fourth quarter, but were unable to put up any field goals in the closing minutes of a 61-59 loss to Shawnee Heights ( 8-4 ) at the Shenk Gym.
Aside from two free throws by T. J. Poole the Blue Jays did not score in the closing minutes. They were outscored 10-2 down the stretch.
In the final seconds the Blue Jays came down the court with a chance at one final shot but a drive to the basket by Ricardo Erans ended with a missed shot from under the basket, and Shawnee Heights held on for the win. Blue Jay coach Pat Battle said it was the right play call. “We had the right shot. We had the right kid with the ball in his hands there down the stretch. He took the ball to the basket.” He added a Shawnee Heights player caused some disruption for Erans on the final drive, causing the Erans to go underneath the basket.
Overall, Erans had an extremely good game, scoring 26 points and hitting four 3-point shots for Junction City. In the first half alone had 17 of Junction City’s 33 points.
Junction City plays at Topeka High next Friday.
Emporia defeated Junction City 61-39 in girls basketball at the Glacier’s Edge Tournament in Emporia on Friday afternoon.
The win dropped Junction City to 0-12 on the season.
Ally McKenzie led the Lady Jays in scoring with 17 points.
Junction City will play in the seventh place consolation game at 11 a.m. on Saturday against the loser of the Topeka West – Wichita Southeast game.
A powerful Leavenworth ( 9-2 ) Pioneer girls basketball team built up a big first half lead and rolled to a 51-28 victory over the Junction City Lady Jays in the opening round of the Glacier’s Edge Tournament in Emporia.
Destinee Robinson hit two three-point shots enroute to a 14-point first half as Leavenworth took control of the game early. Junction City finished the game with no one scoring in double figures. Ally McKenzie led the Lady Jays with eight points.
Junction City coach Derek Petty called the Pioneers a great team. “They get out there. They get after it. They execute what their coaches taught them.”
On the Lady Jays, Petty stated, his team never gave up. “I think we kept battling in the second half, but I think we’re a little intimidated.” Petty added Junction City didn’t play like they did last Friday in a strong half showing against Shawnee Heights. “We’ve got to figure out how we can be consistent and step out on the floor every night. believe we have a chance to win.”
Junction City ( 0-11 ) will play Emporia in the consolation round semifinals of the tournament Friday at 3:15 p.m. Emporia fell to Hutchinson in the first round by the score of 46-45. In other opening night play Eisenhower defeated Topeka West 63-40 while Olathe South routed Wichita Southeast 69-18.