Patriot girls finish fourth at Ben Davis

INDIANAPOLIS — Amara Crawford suffered her first career loss going toe-to-toe with the third-ranked wrestler on Thursday.

The freshman didn’t let the hiccup bother her, as she upset the No. 8 wrestler en route to becoming the champion of her weight class.

Crawford bounced back from her first career loss to go 4-0 and win the 190-pound bracket on Saturday, helping the Jay County High School girls wrestling team to a fourth-place finish out of 25 teams at the Ben Davis Invitational.

Jay County finished with 141 points, trailing Franklin Central (183.5), Mooresville (178.5) and Whiteland Community (155.5).

Crawford provided one of the biggest lifts for the Patriots, securing four victories by fall and a decision to claim the 190 championship. She had to go through No. 8 Brylee Blackwell in the second round. The JCHS freshman got Blackwell on her back in 3 minutes, 11 seconds.

Crawford eventually claimed the championship match with an 8-3 decision over Jezel Guerror. She is now 10-1 with nine victories by fall on the season.

No. 1 Mallory Winner joined Crawford, dominating the 170 weight class. Winner pinned all three of her opponents for the victory.

No. 3 Lina Lingo — she’s ranked in the 135 weight class — made it to the championship match in the 130-pound bracket, but came up just short. To get to the final match, Lingo had to pin No. 16 Dayonna Dyson. No. 7 June Wagner-Gilbert (also ranked in the 135-pound weight class) handed Lingo her first loss of the season with a 9-3 decision.

No. 4 Katie Rowles (100), Tatianna Willis (110) and Brenna Ruble (115) also suffered their first losses of the season. Rowels fell to No. 1 Ella Niebert 18-0 in the semifinal before coming back to claim third place. Ruble also fell to a ranked opponent as No. 6 Khloe Nedelsky by a pin in 5:26 before placing third. Willis dropped a pair of matches by fall to No. 10 Kaydie Epley and No. 11 Jaydis Sordelet, resulting in her not placing.

Emily Manor also placed third in the 140 bracket after being put on the mat by No. 2 Ava Allen (ranked in 145 weight class) in 1:06.

Also competing but not placing were:

•Sophie Thomas — 120 pound

•Allison Tipton — 125 pound

•Julianna Hernandez — 135 pound

•Maleah Parsons — 145 pound

•Madison Gage — 155 pound