Triple Winner

INDIANAPOLIS — There have been just 22 medalists in the history of the Patriot wrestling program.

Only one had done it three times.

Mason Winner is the second.

Winner, a Jay County High School junior, got a third-period pin in his 182-pound opening round match of the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals on Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, guaranteeing him a top-eight finish and his third consecutive state medal.

“It's cool to be making history for our school and representing my school,” said Winner, who joins 2014 JCHS graduate Eric Hemmelgarn as the program's only three-time state medalists.

The top eight in each weight class earn medals as the tournament continues today with quarterfinal action at 9:30 a.m.

“It's incredible,” said Jay County coach Eric Myers. “The thing about Mason is he's put in the time and the hard work. He deserves every bit of this.

“Everything he's earning here he deserves. First kid to win three semi-state (championships), one of two Jay County wrestlers to have state medals — kids that work hard like that, put in that much time deserve everything they're getting.”

Chandler Chapman, a senior, had his career end with a loss on Friday night.

“It feels good to make it here,” he said. “I would have liked to go a lot further but I'm content with what I did. I had a goal to make it to the state finals and I did it.”

Winner (41-2), who is ranked seventh in the state, needed a full period to get things going in his match against North Central senior and No. 19 Devontay Moore. Winner started the second period on top and grabbed a lead by locking an arm bar for a three-point near fall 55 seconds in.

“In the second period when he chose bottom it was like, you have to have the mindset that 'I’m going to make you regret that choice,'” Winner said.

He rode out Moore for the final 65 seconds, and chose top for the third period to keep the advantage.

Once again Winner secured an arm bar, this time turning Moore all the way to his back for the pin with 33 seconds remaining in the match.

“(He) just wrestled a nice, composed match,” Myers said. “Found a bar, turned him twice (and) second time he pinned him.

“Really nice, controlled match.”

Next up for Winner is third-ranked Edgewood senior Levon Bellemy (36-1), who defeated LaPorte senior Noah Perez (39-9) by major decision, 11-3.

“Just go wrestle solid,” Winner said of his approach for the remainder of the state finals. “Control the matches, make as few mistakes as possible and score as many points as I can.”

Other quarterfinal matches in the 182-pound weight class are No. 12 Jalen Morgan (41-3) of Elwood against No. 4 Andrew Donahue (37-2) of Culver Academies; top-ranked Carson Brewer (39-0) of Avon — the senior is 14th in the nation — against No. 6 Jake Lone (37-4) of NorthWood; and No. 5 Evan Bates (46-2) of Chesterton against No. 16 Bradley Rosman (42-2) of Oak Hill.

Chapman, who was a back-to-back sectional and regional champion before finishing fourth at semi-state last weekend, had trouble getting any sort of offense going in his 195-pound match with sixth-ranked Jack Hurley of Penn (33-2).

The Patriot senior, who had been battling an illness this week, got taken down just 19 seconds into his match and trailed 2-1 at the end of the first period. He was behind 7-1 after two periods, and was at the wrong end of a 9-3 score before getting pinned with 23 seconds to go.

“I watched tape on him a couple nights ago,” Chapman said. “He definitely didn't seem that good. But I went out there and wrestled him; he's strong. He had a good sprawl. It was hard to get in on his legs.”

Chapman won the first 16 matches of his senior year but lost the last three — in the semifinals and third-place match at semi-state along with Friday’s defeat.

“Chandler had a great season,” Myers said. “He's been a great kid to have in our program.”