Same goal, different paths

Mason Winner and Gaven Hare of the Patriots are familiar with Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

They were state qualifiers a year ago.

Starfire seniors Wyatt Miller and Isaiah Baumgartner have watched from the stands. This year they’ll compete there for the first time.

While each of them have the same goal — winning Friday night to secure a state medal — they all have different paths to take.

“This year I’m supposed to be the one that is supposed to win,” said Hare, a Jay County High School senior who will cap his career at the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals in Indianapolis. The opening round is Friday, and a victory guarantees a top-eight finish and a state medal as the tournament resumes Saturday morning.

“I’m not the underdog this year,” Hare added. “I’m the one that’s supposed to get the job done.”

Hare, who is 38-7 and ranked 20th in the state at 220-pounds, meets LaPorte senior Kyle Simpkins (36-13) in the opening round Friday. After winning his first career semi-state championship Saturday, Hare received a matchup against Simpkins, who was fourth in the East Chicago semi-state.

His draw looks much more manageable than his draw last season, when he lost in the first round to Eli Pokorney of Chesterton, who went on to finish fourth and is now second in the state at 285 pounds.

“Last year I lost to a good dude,” he said. “I even went and wrestled a decent match. He got it done. This year I went in (to semi-state), since I got a good seed I had to make sure I wasn’t in the position I was last year.”

Baumgartner, a 220-pound South Adams senior, was fourth at semi-state and has a more difficult draw than Hare. He’ll meet Brandon Streck, a 30-1 senior from Merillville who is ranked second in the state.

“We’re just going to have to be on our toes as far as making it a close match,” SAHS coach Jesse Gaskill said. Baumgartner is 17-7 after sitting out most of the season recovering from an ACL reconstruction surgery.

“It’s going to be sweet,” Baumgartner said. “The experience, I’ve always wanted it. It’s been my dream for years to place. Being able to wrestle (at state) is a dream come true.”

Hare and Baumgartner have been tested throughout the postseason. They have battled each other and Allen County Athletic Conference rival Chandler Schumm of Adams Central — he’s also a state qualifier — every step of the way.

Those matches, Hare feels, have put the three of them in good position heading into the state meet.

“I’ve already had plenty of state-level matches coming up through sectional and regional, which honestly not a lot of guys get the chance to do,” he said. “I’ve lost twice and I know how that feels. Knowing how it feels to lose, you want to do everything in your power to not get that.”

Winner, a 160-pound Jay County sophomore, finished seventh in the state at 145 pounds last year to become the program’s first freshman state medalist. All year long, through his sectional, regional and semi-state championships, he has made it clear his intentions are to stand at the top of the podium Saturday.

It’ll take four straight wins to get there, but he’s not allowing himself to look ahead.

“Take it one match at a time,” he said. “Take nothing for granted. Have fun. Just wrestle my match and my offense.”

Winner is 44-2 and ranked 10th in the state. His opponent Friday is fellow sophomore Wade Presson (27-14) of Bloomington South. They are the only underclassmen out of the 16 state finalists at 160 pounds.

“In discussions with (Winner), he wants to win the thing,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers, who guided the Patriots to the team’s first sectional title since 2001. “He doesn’t just want to get under the lights (wrestling for a state title). He wants to win it.”

Winner and Hare have solid chances to become state medalists, which would mark the first time the Patriots have had two earn medals since 2013 when Eric Hemmelgarn and Kyle Garringer achieved the feat.

“It will be pretty neat,” Myers said if Hare and Winner can both win Friday night. “Having two semi-state champions in the same year is pretty incredible. We’re working to keep improving every time and that’s what we’re looking for with these guys.

“Gaven, he wants that state medal.”

Miller, a 106-pound South Adams senior who is ranked seventh in the state, lost in the ticket round at semi-state each of the last three years. He finished second Saturday to earn his first career state berth.

As a semi-state runner-up, he is matched with the third-place winner from another semi-state.

His opponent Friday just happens to be Portage junior Jacob Moran, who is No. 1 in the state (and No. 17 in the nation by InterMat). Moran was 27-1 heading into the East Chicago semi-state but got upset on the way to a third-place finish.

“It is what it is,” Gaskill said. “A lot of the state banking on Moran winning. That’s what’s fueling Wyatt.”

Miller (37-1) was undefeated until the semi-state final, in which he dropped a 10-6 decision to Goshen senior and No. 9 Fernando Flores. It’s a loss that didn’t upset Miller too much — “I have to lose sometime, I guess” — as he felt he didn’t wrestle his best despite it being his only true test all season.

Against Moran, Miller is hoping to be sharp and go on the offensive if the match gets to the third period.

“I’m going to go on the attack but make sure my shots are clean, try to get him straight to his back and go for the upset,” he said, noting his brother, two-time state medalist Sawyer, helped him prepare for Moran.

Should Miller make it past Moran, the rest of the field is loaded. All but one of the 16 finalists are ranked in the top 20 in the state, including four of the top five, with three of them on his side of the bracket.

“It’s just the way the mountain is carved out and we’ve got to take our rough roads,” Gaskill said.