Hungry for more

The Patriots sent seven athletes to the state meet last season. Five more were one win away.

Four of the seven earned medals.

One of them stood atop the podium.

In the 2023-24 season, they are hungry for more.

The Jay County High School girls wrestling team returns just over 70% of its roster after a successful season. This year, the roster is headlined by a strong junior class and a group of sophomores that head coach Eric Myers hopes to see grow.

“We have got a solid group of girls and, our junior class is pretty heavy,” Myers said. “We’ve got a really good group of girls. 

“The neat thing is, with the sport — as far as girls go — in its infancy, it's really fun to see girls come in and have no idea what they're doing, and then develop into solid, maybe even state-level wrestlers. So, it's been really enjoyable for me as a coach to watch those girls be able to do that.”

One wrestler that didn’t require that learning curve is two-time state champion Mallory Winner. The junior is coming off of a season where she only lost two matches after suffering a broken leg in the offseason.

Despite being a two-time state champion, Winner isn’t taking the preseason for granted, but rather, is making good of her time after being injured at this point last season.

“I know that even on the off days, and other people are working, and I have to put in the work too,” Winner said. “Whatever everybody else is doing, I have to double that, because no matter what, I always have a bull's eye on my back and everybody's gonna be coming for me.”

Jay County High School juniors Lina Lingo (left) and Mallory Winner (right) spar off at the beginning of practice Wednesday afternoon. Winner is taking full advantage of her health in the preseason to aim for a third state title and a perfect season, while Lingo is looking to make the state tournament and place after being bounced in the opening round last season. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Winner has set two goals for herself for the season. She wants to repeat as a state champion and go undefeated. Myers expects her to fill out the 155-pound weight class for the Patriots.

The Patriots also return junior state medalists Kiley Williams and Emily Manor. Williams placed fifth at state while Manor finished eighth.

Williams wrestled for the first time last year, breaking onto the scene to earn the regional championship. She will likely fill out the 190 weight class while Manor will take the 135.

Joining them at state were Lina Lingo, Katie Rowles and Maleah Parsons. 

Lingo made massive improvements from a freshman season that didn’t see many wins to her sophomore year when she made it to state with a win over teammate Willow Hardy.

Rowles and Parsons quickly picked up the sport as freshmen.

A big key for the trio to get to state was coming into the season with a sense of hunger and eagerness to get better.

Already this season, assistant coach Chad Chowning has seen that hunger from the girls rather than acting as if they have pressure to make it back.

“I’m sure there’s a little pressure, but the girls are hungry for it,” Chowning said. “They've got that hunger. Now they've got a taste. It's not the pressure, it’s ‘I want more.’”

Rowles will likely be slated in the 100 weight class while Lingo gets the 130 and Parsons will be in 140.

Hardy, a senior, junior Tatiana Willis and sophomore Haley Ridenour are some athletes that Myers thinks have a chance to improve and potentially make it to state.

“They just started to gain more confidence,” Myers said. “All of our experienced girls put in a lot of offseason work this offseason. … I’m just excited to see the fruits of their labor. …

“They’re coming in on a higher level than they left off last year.”

Willis will likely fill the 110-pound weight class, Willow will man the 125 and Ridenour takes care of the 145.

Jay County will have four new wrestlers joining the team. Sophie Thomas will be at the 105-pound weight class, Ellie Wendel at the 120, Tessa Miller takes care of the 170 and Allison Tipton will have to compete with Willow Hardy for the 125 position.

The final spot in the lineup will go to Alexis Hitchfield at 235.

Currently, the 115 position is still open as the team looks for more wrestlers to join.

Ultimately, the Patriots are looking to get back to state and to find more girls travel to Kokomo in January to compete for a top-five team finish at state.

“We just want to keep pushing through placers and keep advancing,” Myers said. “We didn't get as many new girls coming out as we hoped. So I know our girls want more, but they have a solid group there and they're spaced out really well. If we line up head to head against most teams, those teams would have a lot of trouble beating us.”