Two make state

FORT WAYNE — Mason Winner was chasing a piece of history.

It slipped away with an overtime loss, but he reached another in the process.

Winner, a Jay County High School senior, suffered his first loss of the season, finished runner-up and was one of two Patriot wrestlers to earn state berths at the IHSAA Wrestling Semi-State meet on Saturday at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

Winner, a 182-pounder who is the first in program history to earn a medal in his first three seasons and just the second to win three semi-state titles, became the only JCHS wrestler to qualify for the state finals all four years.

The top four in each weight class at semi-state advance to the state final, which begins Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

“It's incredible,” JCHS coach Eric Myers said of Winner's accomplishment. “There are so many things as you go through the state tournament series you kind of take for granted because you're so focused on the next match .. It makes it a little bit harder to fully appreciate at this point in the season, but once the season is over and we reflect back on some of those things it's really incredible the things he's been able to do in a Jay County singlet.”

Ethan Reiley, a 113-pound freshman, finished fourth to become just the second Patriot freshman to reach the state finals since Winner did in 2017. A pair of JCHS seniors had their careers come to a close with losses in the opening round.

“It feels good,” Reiley said. “I'm happy I'm going to state but not too happy with what I placed and how I wrestled the rest of the day.”

Winner (41-1) cruised through the tournament to the final with three straight pins. He disposed of Western freshman MJ Norman in 15 seconds, beat DeKalb senior Blake Rowe in 3:21 in the ticket round — guaranteeing him a top-four finish and a state berth — before pinning Peru senior Zian Constable in 3:34.

Doing so gave the second-ranked Winner a finals matchup with NorthWood senior and fifth-ranked Jake Lone, whom Winner edged 3-2 for the semi-state title last year.

Neither Winner or Lone scored in the opening period of their highly-anticipated match. Winner chose the bottom position to start the second and escaped 12 seconds into the period to take the lead, and both jockeyed back and forth to get an advantage but neither were able to score any further.

Lone took bottom for the third period, and immediately escaped upon the official's whistle to begin. Winner had a chance at a takedown by lifting Lone's leg high in the air, but the Panther scrambled away from danger to keep the match tied, and that's where it stood after three periods.

In the one-minute, sudden victory overtime period, they got into a scramble once again. Lone managed to lock in a cradle and take Winner to the mat for the two points and upset victory.

“The scramble in overtime … I thought a couple times Mason was going to come out on top and Lone kind of scrambled to that cradle and that was it,” Myers said. “It was a hard-fought match. Couple things I think we can change and reverse that outcome.”

Winner did not wish to speak following his loss.

“I think there's just some things that Mason can focus on as far as cleaning up and moving forward,” Myers said. “I think this will kind of help light a little extra fire underneath him.

“He was pretty focused on a goal before, but I think this gives him a bit of extra drive going forward.”

Reiley (37-5), one of three freshmen in his weight class but the only one to move on, took 4:12 to earn a 15-0 tech fall victory in his opening round match against Prairie Heights sophomore Gavin Roberts.

In the ticket round, Reiley beat No. 18 Justin Brantley, a Western junior, by an 8-5 decision to reach the semifinal. But he dropped a 7-3 decision in the semifinal to East Noble sophomore Ethan Sprague, who is ranked ninth and eventually finished second. Reiley fell 7-4 to Garrett junior Colton Weimer in the fourth-place match, and admitted he was not so focused on his second two matches after he had already secured the state berth.

“In my first two matches I went out there, I was hungry for going to state,” he said. “My last two matches, I just got caught up in going to state and the feeling of it and I feel like I didn't wrestle to the best of my ability.”

Myers was still pleased with the year he's having and the fact he gets to wrestle at least one more match.

“To this point he's just wrestled awesome,” he said. “He's accomplished a lot and should be proud of what he's done.”

Seniors Zakk Atkins and Cooper Jacks had their careers come to an end with losses in the first round.

Atkins, a 120-pounder trailed Jacob Veatch of Leo 6-2 heading into the third period. He started in the down position and reversed to get within two, 6-4, but eventually fell behind 8-4 before getting pinned with 26.8 seconds remaining in the match. His year ended with a 32-6 record.

Jacks wasn't able to get much going offensively in his 220-pound match against Omar Khaoucha of Northridge. In a 7-1 defeat, the only point for Jacks (21-14) came from a double stall in the second period.

“Cooper, he's went from a JV wrestler to a kid that is at the semi-state level and fighting for a chance to go to state which says a lot for him,” Myers said. “He's worked really hard to get there and he became a really good wrestler on our team.

“Zakk, over 100 wins on his career for Jay County; had an awesome career. I know he had goals set higher, but I'm just really proud of what he's been able to accomplish and the improvements he's been able to make freshman year up to his senior year.”