Winner seventh at state

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INDIANAPOLIS — He was the first freshman in school history to make it there.

Now he’s returning to Portland with a medal.

Mason Winner, a Jay County High School freshman, bounced back from two earlier losses in the day to score a 6-4 decision over Elkhart Central’s Xander Stroud to finish in seventh place at the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

“Means quite a bit to me even though I didn’t place as high as I wanted to,” said Winner, a 145-pounder.

Jay County coach Eric Myers, whose Patriot team has had a state medalist in five of the last six years, said Winner has paved the way for any youngsters as they enter high school.

“He set the bar pretty high for incoming freshmen, I believe, going to state in the first place and getting a medal on top of it.

“Going forward, he’s made it to state, he’s got a medal. I’m sure that he’s just going to be looking to get to the top of the podium from here on out.”

A single-leg takedown 29 seconds into the opening period of the seventh-place match gave Winner (38-4) a 2-0 advantage, but after starting the second period neutral Stroud (33-8) took Winner to the mat to tie the score.

Winner escaped but found himself on his back with eight seconds left to trail 4-3 entering the third. Winner, who defeated Stroud in the semi-state championship a week earlier, escaped to start the final period, and worked a takedown in the waning seconds to get a 6-4 decision.

“That was the great thing there with that position is he wasn’t happy just sitting there and getting a stalemate,” Myers said. Winner was jockeying for position with his right arm locked with Stroud’s left arm, but the official was hesitant to award the takedown. A slight repositioning of his legs gave Winner the two points and the eventual victory.

“He kept working toward it and the other kid was just trying to stalemate it,” Myers said, noting that Winner’s familiarity with Stroud gave him confidence going into the match, a much-needed boost given his two earlier defeats. Winner picked Stroud’s ankle for the first takedown, and nearly did it again in the second period but they were whistled for being out of bounds.

“He moved his feet a lot more in his last match and was able to get some openings, get to that low single (leg) a little bit better,” Myers said. “He was able to get into a little bit more of a flow than he was in his earlier matches. As the day went on I think he started to wrestle a little bit better. He just wasn’t wrestling his best at the beginning of the day.”

In the quarterfinal match against Cathedral freshman Elliot Rodgers, Winner wasn’t able to get much going in terms of offense despite the fact he has been the aggressor in most of his matches this season. Rodgers, who went on to finish fourth, escaped 23 seconds into the second period as he and Winner went scoreless through the first. Moments later, Winner took at shot at Rodgers’ leg but missed, and the Irish freshman turned it into a takedown and a 3-0 advantage.

During the third period Winner continued to take shots at Rodgers, who was effective at sprawling to avoid trouble. Rodgers got the 3-0 decision.

In the consolation semifinal against Perry Meridian senior Kain Rust, Winner dropped a 5-3 decision. He earned two escapes and a technical violation. Otherwise, Rust — he went on to finish sixth — deflected any offense from Winner.

“The first kid got a couple points then ran,” Winner said. “The second kid, he’s good, but he was wrestling really dirty. The referee didn’t call anything and he stalled the biggest part of the time.”

Prior to reaching high school, Winner wasn’t shy about proclaiming his goal of becoming Jay County’s first four-time state medalist.

So far, he’s one-for-one, and is already looking forward to getting back.

“I’m a little disappointed with how today went,” he said. “Just learn from my mistakes, move on, practice all offseason and all summer.”

Myers also said he is proud of Winner’s accomplishment.

“Being a freshman state medalist, taking seventh in the state is pretty awesome,” he said. “I know that he would have wanted to get that quarterfinal match … He wasn’t happy with any of his losses and he’s never going to be.

“He’s had a great season. Awesome freshman year.”