Brackets are out

The brackets are out.

Two-time defending state champion Mallory Winner will face a loaded semi-state bracket as she seeks to put herself in position to stand atop the podium again. And the Jay County High School boys wrestling team will have to overcome a squad it has lost to this season in order to have a shot at its first team state title.

In the girls Rochester semi-state brackets released Tuesday morning, top-ranked Winner is part of a 155-pound bracket that features five of the top six wrestlers in the state. The host Patriot boys are the No. 3 seed Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Class 2A team state tournament — brackets were released Monday — and face a potential rematch with No. 2 seed Delta in the semifinal round.

Winner (18-0) leads a group of 13 JCHS girls who will compete Friday at the Rochester semi-state, from which the top four in each weight class will advance to the state finals. (The team had seven state qualifiers last season.) She will open the competition against Olivia Pender (6-5) of Whitko, with a potential quarterfinal match against fifth-ranked Paloma Shull (13-2) of Wabash. In the semifinal round, she could meet New Haven’s No. 4. Kaily Bussard (24-2) of Tri-Central’s No. 12 Samara Clowers-Mires (27-8). The other half of the loaded bracket includes Eastside’s No. 2 Rhaigyn Trenary (20-1) and Rochester’s No. 6 Grace Hiroms (18-3), who Winner beat in the 2023 state championship match at 160.

No. 7 Katie Rowles, a state-qualifier last season, gets a by through the opening round before the tough assignment of facing sixth-ranked Angelina Clay (18-4) of Lakeland in the quarterfinal. She would face an unranked wrestler in the semifinal, with No. 5 Kyleigh Honaker (13-6) of East Noble heavily favored to come out of the other side of the bracket.

The 10th-ranked Manor (20-1), who placed fifth in the state at 132 last season, will also bye through the opening round and take on the winner of a match between Alexis Haughs (12-8) of Rochester and Viola Putnam (0-2) of Peru in the quarterfinal. Potential semifinal opponents are No. 11 Naomi Leffers (16-6) of Central Noble and No. 16 April Laggner (16-3) of New Haven. The other half of the bracket includes No. 12 Kahmya Bell (13-1) of East Noble and No. 13 Lindsey Dill (17-4) of Northfield.

Thanks to being seeded in the top four, the Jay County boys will get a bye through Saturday’s first round. (The tournament begins at 9 a.m. at JCHS.) The Patriots will start their day in the quarterfinals against the winner of an opening-round match between No. 6 see Oak Hill and Wawasee.

Other opening-round matches are as follows:

No. 5 seed Renssellaer Central against Monrovia with the winner to meet No. 4 seed Western in the quarterfinals

No. 7 seed Hamilton Heights against New Prairie with the winner to meet No. 2 seed Delta

No. 8 seed Heritage Hills against Maconaquah with the winner to meet No. 1 seed Bellmont

Ranked No. 1 heading into last season’s team state tournament, the Patriots defeated Renssellaer Central 40-21 and Norwell 46-25 before falling 37-28 to third-ranked Western in the championship match.

Additional first-round semi-state matches for the JCHS girls Friday are:

105 — Sophia Thomas (5-16) vs. Liz Winchester (4-12) of Madison-Grant

115 — Tatianna Willis (10-7) vs. No. 12 Makayla Withrow (18-4) of West Noble

120 — Calie Yates (8-10) vs. Hannah Early (16-12) of North Miami

120 — Ellie Wendel (1-5) vs. Kyra Doran (15-4) of Rochester

125 — Willow Hardy (16-11) vs. Christian Lewis (6-9) of Prairie Heights

135 — No. 13 Lina Lingo (20-8), a 2023 state qualifier, vs. Alli O'Connor (2-11) of Garrett

145 — No. 14 Maleah Parsons (17-9), a 2023 state qualifier, vs. Gracie Cook (5-5) of Maconaquah

155 — Madison Gage (6-9), who finished as the regional runner-up to Winner, vs. Anna Elliot (5-10) of Huntington North

170 — Tessa Miller (5-16) vs. Anna Maszke (0-1) of Central Noble

190 — Sydney Huftel (0-3) vs. Katelynn Leckrone (13-12) of Manchester

Outside of the Patriots ranked in the top 10, Yates, Hardy and Lingo seem to have the cleanest paths to a possible state berth. Everyone else on the squad would need to knock off a state-ranked wrestler in the first or second round in order to achieve a top-four finish.