If there was any question about how deep and loaded the Liberty wrestling team is, the Blue Jays had an emphatic answer last Saturday.

Liberty held out five wrestlers that are ranked in the top six of their respective weight classes in the MissouriWrestling.com poll and gave some of their junior varsity wrestlers a chance to go against varsity competition.

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Even with elite-level wrestlers like Cade Dunn, Devon Harrison, Hunter Taylor, Christopher Coates and Kolby McClain not competing, the Blue Jays still managed to win their home tournament scoring 255 points, 3.5 ahead of second-place Grain Valley.

Liberty North, who gave a lot of their wrestlers some rest on Saturday, took third with 148 points

“I say we’ve done pretty well,” Liberty senior Cooper Rider said. “I say there are other teams sitting out their wrestlers because it is getting close to district time. Some of them are probably getting to the match up.

“Our JV is placing high in these tournaments right now. We have a few guys who are going in for our team and they are proving themselves.”

One of those wrestlers that had a chance to shine was Carson Rodick (150), who has been on the Blue Jays junior varsity team for the majority of the season.

He pinned Lincoln College Prep’s Jeffery Taylor in the semifinals before edging Capital City’s Jeremiah Austin 14-12.

“I need to work on a lot of stuff,” Rodick said. “I was throwing in my legs and I was getting really high, and (Austin) was taking advantage of that sometimes. That was why he got so many reversals.