Trio leads Jay to runner-up finish

RUSSIAVILLE — A trio of the Patriots’ most experienced wrestlers went undefeated Saturday.

It was enough to propel them to a second-place finish.

Jay County High School’s boys wrestling team finished 3-2 at the Western Super 6, taking the runner-up spot via a tiebreaker.

The Patriots clobbered Logansport 64-18 and also beat Hamilton Heights 56-21 and Madison-Grant 60-24. Their losses came by scores of 40-35 to the host Class 2A No. Panthers and 48-28 to Lafayette Harrison.

A.J. Heskett was the most dominant athlete for JCHS, winning all of his four contested matches at 138 pounds by pin. Griffin Byrum (113) recorded three pins and a technical fall. Alan Ortiz (285) also finished the day undefeated.

Brice Coy (190) and Jacob Robinson (150) were both 4-1 for the Patriots. Finishing 3-2 for Jay County were Corbin Lothridge (106) and Jason Landers (144).

Kaup 2nd in two

Joelle Kaup of Fort Recovery led the contingent of local swimmers Saturday as she placed second in a pair of events and added two more top-five efforts during the Waterdawg Sprint Meet hosted by Celina at Jay County High School.

The effort from the senior led the FRHS girls to a fourth-place finish out of a dozen teams while Jay County’s girls were ninth. The Patriot boys placed sixth out of 11 with Fort Recovery in 10th.

Kaup was the runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle, trailing Jenna Downey of Bluffton (Ohio) by just 0.16 seconds with her time of 28.52 seconds. She was also second in the 50 backstroke while taking third place in the 50 freestyle and fifth place in the 50 breaststroke.

Freshman Cooper Glentzer highlighted the day for the Jay County boys as he finished fourth in the 50 butterfly and eighth in the 50 backstroke. Brooklyn Byrum, also a freshman, was 10th for the Patriot girls in the 50 butterfly.

Caleb Smith led the FRHS boys with a 12th-place finish in the 50 breaststroke.

Willis second

KENDALLVILLE — Tatiana Willis led the third-ranked Jay County High School girls wrestling team Saturday as it competed at the East Noble Invitational.

Willis, wrestling at 110 pounds, took second place for the short-handed Patriots. Emily Manor (140) and Amara Crawford (190) added third-place efforts.

Also finishing in the top five for JCHS were Lina Lingo (135) in fourth and Brenna Ruble (115) and Maleah Parson (145) in fifth.