Two wrestlers win invite championships

DAYTON, Ohio — Mason Winner is no stranger to standing on the top of a podium.

A teammate joined him on Saturday.

The Jay County High School wrestling team had two win titles and eight others finish in the top eight as it was fifth in the Franklin Invitational.

LaSalle won the team title with 314.5 points, ahead of Western Brown (215) and Valley View (199). Jay County totaled 137.5 for fifth, one spot lower than what it was a year ago.

Winner, a 160-pound sophomore, pinned his way to the tournament title. It took 1 minute, 35 seconds, to beat Sam Willis of Washington, then 54 seconds to dispose of Michael Ritchie of host Franklin. 

In the quarterfinal, Winner defeated Valley View’s Austin Napier in 1:32. He finished off Carroll’s Blake Coy in 4:20 in the semifinal, and in the title match pinned Western Brown’s Derek Spears in 5:44.

Thomas Hemmelgarn had three pins, including in the first period of his first two matches. The 152-pound junior won an 8-2 decision over Valley View’s Kole Deel in the quarterfinal, pinned Reading’s Issia Johnson in 4:30 in the semifinal and grabbed a 3-1 decision over Washington’s Zane Nelson in the final.

Mitchel Frasher (182) and Gaven Hare (220) were both fourth, Daniel Ostrowski (195) was fifth, Taylor Klarer (113) placed sixth and Dylan Racster (106), Zakk Atkins (113) and Chandler Chapman (170) were seventh.