Champs again

There wasn’t a lot of suspense to be found Saturday.

With girls wrestling adding a round to the state tournament series this year, virtually everyone was guaranteed to advance through the regional. The day’s competition was mostly about wrestlers putting themselves in a good position for the semi-state.

For the most part, the Patriots did just that.

The ninth-ranked Jay County High School girls wrestling team racked up five regional champions — Mallory Winner, Katie Rowles, Calie Yates, Lina Lingo and Emily Manor — and won the team title on their home mats.

“I like to refer to it as the wrestling roller coaster, where you feel good about something and the next thing you know you’re feeling kind of crummy,” said JCHS coach Eric Myers. “All of our girls are still alive, so that’s a good thing. You give yourself a chance to wrestle into next week and give yourself another chance to advance. 

“That’s the most important part, even though some of those matches we’d like to have back.”

With the top four wrestlers in each weight class advancing to Friday’s semi-state at Rochester, only a handful of wrestlers were eliminated Saturday. One wrestler (Lexi Edwards of Muncie Central) had no competitors while six weight classes had just two wrestlers and another four had only three.

The host Patriots scored 58 points to win the regional by 17 over Blackford. Muncie Central (35) was third in the field of eight teams.

It was the second regional title in a row for Jay County, which also won amongst a much larger contingent last season prior to the tournament’s expansion.

“I thought we had a great day,” said JCHS assistant coach Troy Jacks. “We are advancing everybody. We seem to have just put it together — got a few champions, a few runners-up — I just couldn’t be more proud of the girls.”

The Patriots dominated at 155 pounds — it was the busiest weight class of the day with six competitors — where two of their wrestlers squared off in the championship match. Two-time defending state champion and top-ranked Mallory Winner (18-0) pinned teammate Madison Gage (6-9) in 1 minute, 5 seconds, for the regional title after finishing off Monroe Central’s Chelsea Erwin in 43 seconds in the semifinal.

Gage earned her runner-up spot with a pair of pins of her own, topping Blackford’s Laurel McVicker in 1:11 in the opening round and Muncie Central’s Amaya Stoudimire in 2:16 in the semifinal.

No. 7 Katie Rowles (26-4) was the only other JCHS wrestler who needed multiple victories to earn her regional title. She powered her way through the bracket, needing just five seconds to take down Maria Oliphant of Monroe Central before pinning her in 23 seconds and then finishing off Blackford’s Madison Henderson in 1:43.

“I felt pretty good,” said Rowles. “I’ve been working for this all season. …

“I moved my feet well and I kept clearing ties that I didn’t want, that weren’t going to help me win the match.”

13th-ranked Lina Lingo (20-8) took care of business against Muncie Central’s Akira Jones, getting behind her at the 1:20 mark for the first points of the match. She was up 7-1 when she finished off Jones in 2:32.

Yates wrestled a wild back-and-forth match to decide the 120-pound bracket, scoring the first points before falling behind 8-5. She closed the second period with a reversal and five near fall points and was up 14-8 in the third when she pinned Courtney Thrash of Muncie Central in 4:26.

“I was really excited to see Calie Yates, a first-year girl, come out and win the regional,” said Myers. “She had a battle there. … She said, ‘I was not gonna lose that match.’ You love to hear that.”

In the only match at 140 pounds, Manor got a takedown and three-point near fall about a minute into the match. She caught Learah Rollins of Muncie Central in a cradle in the second period to win in 2:59.

“I think Emily Manor wrestled awesome today coming back from and injury,” said Jacks. “She wrestled real sharp. …

“She wrestlers so wiry. She commanded on her feet. She wrestled great on top. … It was an overall, total good match.”

Also advancing were Willow Hardy at 125 and Sydney Huftel at 190 in second place; Sophia Thomas at 105, Ellie Wendel at 120 and Maleah Parsons at 145 in third; and Tatianna Willis at 115 and Tessa Miller at 170 in fourth.