It was not the weekend the Jefferson City Jays envisioned at the Missouri Duals, but they capped it on a high note.
The Jays finished their six duals in the Gold Division with a 2-4 record and were relegated to the ninth-place dual against the Lindbergh Flyers.
It was not the dual Jefferson City wanted to be in, but the Jays made the most of it by running away with a 52-23 victory at Helias Gym.
"Always a good feeling when the kids come back and rally to get the last win of the tournament," Jefferson City coach Darrell Luebbert said. "We went 3-4 this weekend, we were honestly expecting to go 5-2. With the brutal side we had, we took a lot away from it."
Jefferson City dealt with some really good competition in the Gold Division.
The Jays wrestled duals against eventual tournament champion Neosho, third-place finisher Coweta (Okla.) and North Point, who went on to finish sixth.
Jefferson City lost all three of those duals and also dropped one it felt it should win against Centralia in pool play.
But it wasn't all negatives, as the Jays believe it will help the team in the long run.
"We wrestled a lot of Class 4 competition, so our kids got better this weekend," Luebbert said. "Instead of going into a smaller class, we went into a tough tournament, and we knew what it was.
"We have high expectations for our kids, and they fought and they battled."
It was also a good experience for the younger pieces in the lineup to experience wrestling seven matches in a span of two days.
"It told us where we were in conditioning," Luebbert said. "It also told us what we need to do expect what we are going to see in February, where we are wrestling five to seven matches in a weekend for districts and state."
Jefferson City saw some bright spots throughout the tournament.
Luke Jenkins finished the weekend with a 6-1 record at 215 pounds with three pins, a major decision and two forfeits. His lone loss came against Dayton Kivett of Neosho in a match where he led 14-4 in the third period before being caught and getting pinned.
"Now he knows that, he's got it in his head and he's going to be working hard in the room the next few days to get that fixed," Luebbert said.
Deegan Mitchell also went 6-1 at 144, earning one pin, two technical falls, two forfeits and a 2-1 decision victory against Fisher Butler of Neosho, one of Jefferson City's two wins in that dual.
"Deegan we always know is going to be one of our frontrunners," Luebbert said. "He had a tough loss, but he came back like the true champion he is. He found his heart, found where he needed to be and went right back to in the next match and got some Ws."
Makoa Castillo won all five of his matches at 120 before sitting out the final two duals to rest an injury.
Castillo won once by fall, once by a major decision and three other times by decision.
"Just precautionary," Luebbert said. "We knew we had that last dual won, so we sat him out and let him work on some issues and go from there."
Nick Redcay finished the weekend 4-3 at 150, earning one win by fall, one by technical fall and two others via forfeit.
The biggest bright spot for Redcay in the tough 150-pound bracket was the lack of bonus points allowed in losses, though.
"Nick Redcay wrestled his butt off this weekend and probably had the toughest weight here," Luebbert said. "I think he gave up bonus just once. That kid fought with all his heart, and if I could get every kid to have the fight of their back that kid's got, we'd be where we need to be."
Also earning an above-.500 record on the weekend was Luke Mosley at 175, who finished 4-3 with three pins and a decision victory.
Jefferson City will be off until hosting the Steve Johnson Invitational next Saturday at Fleming Fieldhouse.