Set for semi-state

In each of the last three years, Patriot coach Eric Myers has taken a pair of wrestlers to the state finals.

One, Mason Winner, returned with hardware each time.

As the Jay County High School wrestling team sends four to semi-state Saturday at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Myers is hoping the contingent of Patriots who qualify for state is larger than previous years.

“It would be great to get all four of them through,” said Myers. “I think our (regional) champions, they’ve set themselves up a little bit better.

“Semi-state is a crazy day. You see a lot of things happen. We’re just hoping to, again, keep our guys even-keeled, make sure they’re ready, they’re focused but make sure they’re loose and ready to wrestle.”

Action begins at 8:30 a.m., and wins in the first two rounds guarantee a top-four finish and a state-qualifying spot.

Winner, the only wrestler in Jay County history to earn a medal in his first three seasons, leads this year’s Patriot group searching to make more history.

On Saturday, Winner surpassed Eric Hemmelgarn for the most career victories. This weekend, the 182-pounder can become the program’s first four-time semi-state champion.

“It’s pretty special,” he said of the opportunity in front of him. “There’s no one else that’s been able to do four-time semi-state … It’d be pretty special and cool. It’ll be another thing to say I’ve done and put in the history books.”

Winner, who is 38-0 and ranked second in the state, meets Western freshman MJ Norman in the opening round. Winner was once in Norman’s shoes, so he knows what the youngster has going through his head.

“Freshman year I was the kid coming in taking seniors out,” he said.

Awaiting in the ticket round — dubbed as such because a win punches a ticket to state — would be either Blake Rowe (28-6) of DeKalb or Jacob Saylor of New Haven (9-3).

Freshman Ethan Reiley, a 113-pounder, was a sectional and regional champion. He puts his 35-2 record on the line against Gavin Roberts (21-5) in the opening round. Either No. 18 Justin Brantley (26-3) of Western or Ben Sloffer (25-10) of Carroll will be awaiting him in the ticket round should he get past Roberts.

Reiley said he’s using his experience in winning titles each of the last two weekends as a building block for his semi-state debut.

“Knowing the feeling of being on top is really good,” he said. “Knowing that I can beat all these good kids that are up there doing good things last year; knowing that I can beat them is really boosting my confidence in knowing I can beat anyone.”

His goal for Saturday? Follow in Winner’s footsteps.

“I’m going to try my best to make it out of ticket round.” he said. “I’m shooting high and I’m going to be a semi-state champ.”

Zakk Atkins, a 120-pound senior with a 32-5 record, was a sectional champ and finished as the regional runner-up after losing to No. 11 John Robinson of Delta by a 12-8 decision. Atkins was down 10-8 in the final moments of the match before giving up two late points. Being that close to someone of Robinson’s caliber — he was a state qualifier last year — as well as an opening-round loss at regional as a junior, has given Atkins a little added motivation this weekend in a bracket that features four athletes ranked in the top 18.

“The way I see it, I know rankings don’t really matter but I came within two points then I made a stupid mistake,” Atkins said. “If I can handle it then, then I think I can handle someone else who’s ranked.”

Myers said his goal is to keep Atkins level-headed Saturday. Atkins meets Jacob Veatch (32-4) of Leo in the opening around, and potential ticket round opponents are No. 18 Ethan Higgins (30-1 of Wabash or Mikey Kallamani (30-10) of Jimtown.

“He knows he’s right there,” Myers said. “He’s not the same wrestler he was last year. He’s at that state-caliber level.

“Going into semi-state, we’re making sure he’s confident and he knows that he deserves to be there.”

Cooper Jacks was a 285-pound regional qualifier as a junior, but this season he’s competing in the 220-pound division. He was third at sectional and after losing to No. 3 Cale Gray in the regional semifinal Saturday, Jacks got a second-period pin to finish third.

Jacks even reaching this point was a question during the fall after suffering ligament damage in his left knee, but there was no doubt in his mind he’d be able to wrestle and get as far as he has. 

“I felt this adversity made me work that much harder to get that edge over everyone else because they wouldn’t have that setback,” said Jacks, who meets Omar Khaoucha (30-8) of Northridge in the opening round. “So that just made me work all the much more harder.”

At 20-13, Jacks and Kaleb Kilmer of Goshen have the most losses out of the 16 semi-state qualifiers in their weight class. Jacks doesn’t think it will hamper him, instead it works in his favor.

“Really not that good record coming, I think that’s pretty dangerous,” he said. “I could use that to my advantage for sure.”