Jay wrestlers have four win ACAC titles

Mason Winner was at the top of his weight class for the third straight year.

He had three teammates join him as champions.

Jay County High School’s wrestling team had four individual champions on Friday as it was runner-up to Adams Central in the Allen County Athletic Conference individual tournament.

Adams Central scored 256.5 points to repeat as champions, edging the host Patriots by 1.5 points. Bluffton was third with 193 points. South Adams, which had two champions, was fifth with 116 points.

JCHS freshman Blayne Daniels earned a 6-4 decision over Adams Central’s Alex Currie to win the 126-pound title. Daniels reached the final with a bye and a pin of Woodlan’s David Rogers-Potter in 3 minutes, 51 seconds. Daniels improved to 27-7 on the year.

At 152 pounds, senior Thomas Hemmelgarn won his first conference championship by pinning Southern Wells’ Coleman Beeks with one second remaining in the second period. After a bye in the opener, Hemmelgarn (24-8) pinned Woodlan’s Dan Herschberger in 4:30 to reach the final.

Winner, a junior, became a three-time champ after a pin of Adams Central’s Monty Hill in just 80 seconds. Winner (30-2) got a forfeit in the quarterfinal round before needing just 51 seconds to pin Bluffton’s Devin Johnson in the semifinal.

Chandler Chapman, another JCHS senior, kept his perfect record intact with three wins on the way to his first ACAC title. Following a forfeit in the first round, he pinned Cole Meeks of Southern Wells in 3:56, and knocked off Jacob Manly of Adams Central by way of a 10-1 major decision in the championship match. Chapman is now 8-0 on the year.

Michael Rupp of South Adams also won his third straight conference championship. Rupp (26-2) beat Adams Central’s Evan McAfee by a 7-2 decision in the final to cap a day during which he also received a forfeit and beat Bluffton’s Grant Bultemeier by an 11-9 decision in the semifinal.

South Adams senior Andre Hughes (25-3), who was a runner-up at 285 as a junior while attending Bluffton, came out on top in his final season. He pinned Chandler Jacks of Jay County 1:27 into their championship match. Hughes received a bye to the semifinal before pinning Bluffton’s Nick Sprankles in 2:45. Jacks reached the title match with a 3-1 decision over Adams Central’s Devin Lotter in the semifinal.

Lucas Schmit, a JCHS senior, wrestled in the final of the 220-pound weight class but lost by a first-period pin.