Four from JCHS advance

Champions are nice. Advancing to the next level of the tournament is the ultimate goal.

That was Jay County High School wrestling coach James Myers' view after the sectional meet. Now he's looking at the team's largest group of semi-state qualifiers in more than a decade.

The Patriots, who have had two wrestlers reach the semi-state meet in each of the last two years, will send four to Saturday's competition hosted by Woodlan at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Matt James, Drake Meska, Nick Leonhard and Kyle Garringer all finished in the top four at Saturday's regional meet hosted by JCHS to earn another weekend of competition.

"A freshman, a sophomore, a junior and a senior to the semi-state next weekend is exciting," said Patriot coach James Myers.

"I honestly think we've got guys who can win at least two matches next weekend. ... That's what we're looking for."

South Adams also had a successful day as regional champion Josh Ehr led a group of five Starfire semi-state qualifiers.

"Overall, I thought they wrestled pretty well," said SAHS coach Eric Myers, who said the five-plus hour delay because of snow wasn't a detriment to his team. "I thought it helped us. We wrestle terrible in the morning. I was kind of happy to see we were starting after noon."

Wrestlers from seventh-ranked Yorktown took home the most titles, winning eight of the 14 weight-classes. No. 14 Bellmont picked up three regional titles.

Half of Jay County's eight regional qualifiers won their quarterfinal matches, earning them a trip to the semi-state round of the tournament. All four lost in the semifinals, but junior Drake Meska and sophomore Nick Leonhard bounced back for third-place finishes.

Meska (39-3) made quick work of his first match in the 130-pound bracket, pinning Olympic Athletic Conference rival Zack Douthitt (14-19) of Muncie Southside in 1 minute, 49 seconds. He dropped his semifinal match to eventual champion Devon Jackson (46-0), a Yorktown sophomore who is ranked third in the state.

He rebounded in his consolation match, avenging last week's sectional championship loss with a 5-3 overtime win over Bellmont's Carlin Hormann.

"Drake more than anything wrestled the eventual champion really tough in the semis," said James Myers. "He came back to beat Hormann, who beat him in the championship last week."

Coming off of a third-place sectional finish, Leonhard (19-14) also opened his day against a wrestler from Southside in the 145-pound bracket. He jumped out to a 9-0 lead before Southside's Brady Turner finally scored an escape with 1:21 on the clock in the third period.

Leonhard went on to a 14-3 major decision win, and then fell to Ehr in the semifinals. He took on sectional runner-up Kyle King of Bluffton in the third place match and used a cradle to score a pin midway through the third period.

"When you win your third-place match, you know you belong," said James Myers of Leonhard, who was one of several wrestlers effected when the brackets were re-drawn because some wrestlers did not make it to the meet. "It wasn't just the luck of the draw. Nick lost to the eventual champion and beat a kid (King) who had beat him twice already this year. He earned his spot."

Ehr (40-0), the lone local champion of the day, pinned Leonhard in 2:45 in the semifinal round after getting a bye through the first round.

In the 145-pound championship match, Ehr picked up the first points with a takedown with 1:13 remaining in the third period. Cody Harper of Yorktown got an escape with 30 seconds to go, but Ehr was able to survive the rest of the way despite a leg injury for the 2-1 win.

"Ehr being injured there and sucking him up (was big)," said Eric Myers. "We're hoping he'll be 100 percent by Saturday, obviously. It's kind of a deep, muscle bruise I believe."

James (36-6), a senior, never trailed in his 215-pound quarterfinal match against Southside's Casey Vance, grabbing a 4-1 lead in the first period. He was up by just two points heading into the third, but took control with an early takedown and rolled to an 11-4 win.

At 189 pounds, Garringer (26-15) was unfazed despite falling behind 2-0 against Wes-Del's Joshua Folkner (20-5). The freshman tuned the tables on Folkner with 40 seconds on the clock in the opening period and recorded a pin just nine seconds later to earn his semi-state berth.

James fell to Southern Wells' Seth Biberstine 6-4 in overtime in the semifinal round. Andrew Bultemeier of Bellmont pinned him in 2:34 in the third-place match.

Garringer's semifinal loss came by pin in 3:39 against Grant Brown of Yorktown. He lost by pin in the third-place match to Corey Crabtree of Muncie Southside in 51 seconds.

"(We got) four (through), with three coming back," said James Myers. "So I think that bodes well for the young kids next year to see that we can have success at a young age. I hope those three that will be back will build on it and the other kids can see that they can be there too."

"Garringer as a freshman at the semi-state is exciting. It'll definitely be an experience for him."

South Adams' Jim West (37-2), who is the fourth-ranked heavyweight in the state, bounced back from nearly being knocked out in the sectional a week earlier to finish as the regional runner-up. He pinned Librado Reyes of Southside in 1:24 in the first round and Bellmont's Daniel Meyer in 3:23 in the second before falling 5-2 to No. 3 Ross Janney (44-0) of Yorktown in the finals.

"After about not making it to regional, (he made it to the finals)," said Eric Myers. "It was a good recovery for him. ... I thought he wrestled Janney pretty tough. He wrestled him pretty close."

Also advancing to the semi-state for SAHS were Nick Taylor (27-10) in third place at 171 pounds, John Striker (33-8) in fourth place at 125 pounds and T.J. Burnfield (36-7) in fourth at 140 pounds.

All four Jay County wrestlers who lost in the opening round lost by pin fall.

Chase Louck (18-13) fell in 3:29 to Southside's Isaiah Bradley at 119 pounds, Nathan Drumm (15-12) lost in 1:19 to Andrew Hiestand at 135 pounds, Kyle Davidson (5-3) fell to 14th-ranked Josh Martin of Randolph Southern in 3:16 at 140 pounds and Kyler Blowers (22-8) lost in 1:39 to Janney at heavyweight.

Todd Batt (26-9) nearly gave South Adams a sixth semi-state qualifier, but lost 3-2 in overtime to Yorktown's Jake Anderson in the opening round at 119 pounds. Other first-round losses for the Starfires all came to wrestlers from Yorktown: Isaac Werst (20-19) by a 14-3 major decision to Caleb Smith at 152 pounds, Drew Taylor (15-16) by a pin in 3:58 to eventual champion Scott Neff at 215 pounds and L.J. Moser (19-10) by a pin in 1:28 to Schuyler Phillips at 112 pounds.[[In-content Ad]]