Patriots’ Winner repeats at No. 1 for claiming fourth state title

She found herself atop the podium for a fourth straight year. And now she’s finding herself in the No. 1 spot of the paper’s top sports stories for a second year in a row.

While multiple records were set, including one for the state, a coach hit a major milestone, and there was plenty of teams finding success in the playoffs, none could top Mallory Winner as she claimed the top spot on The Commercial Review’s list of biggest sports stories for claiming her fourth consecutive state title in girls wrestling in 2025.

The rest of the top 10 list is as follows:

2. Anna Roessner won the 100-meter dash while setting the state meet record

3. Jerry Bomholt earned his 600th career win before being forced to medically retire from the JCHS boys basketball team

4. The school board approved a major project that upgrades the pool, moves the tennis courts, expands the wrestling practice area and flips the stadium seating

5. The FR boys bowling team made its first state appearance while MAC bowler of the year, Deanna Brown and coach Alison Rosegrant lead girls to second berth

6. Eddie Fields and Tyler Rigby hired to lead JC football and boys basketball teams

7. Emma Will and Jenna Homan break multiple FR softball records

8. Eric Myers leaves Patriot wrestling program

9. Tribe softball won its first district title

10. Patriot girls and boys tennis continued sectional dominance

1. Four for four

Winner had already established herself as one of the best girls wrestlers in the state after claiming three state titles. That didn’t change with the IHSAA officially recognizing girls wrestling as a sport as she turned an undefeated season into her fourth state championship.

The top-ranked wrestler had to face No. 11 Lydia Kwaleh of Perry Meridian, who Winner edged out for a 1-0 win at the regional, in the 170-pound title match. Winner learned from the regional win, hitting a low single leg and turned it into a double-wrist bar for the pin and the title in 2:50. Winner also was named Miss Gorilla by Indiana as the top wrestler for a career that included four state titles and a 105-2 record.

Katie Rowles (third), Lina Lingo (eight), Brenna Ruble (eighth) and Tatiana Willis (no placement) all wrestled at the state tournament as well and the Patriots finished third at the team state as well. 

2. Fastest in the state

Anna Roessner set multiple records on her way to the OHSAA Division III State finals and continued her success on the biggest stage. The Fort Recovery senior came into Jessie Owens Memorial Stadium and ran an 11.75 in the 100-meter dash to become the first garage champion in FRHS track history. The time also broke the state meet record and tied the overall Division III record.

She followed up the greatest individual performance in Fort Recovery girls track history with a runner-up finish in the 200-meter dash and a third-place finish in the 400 dash. Her 24 points put the Tribe eighth in the state meet.

3. Winning 600

Jerry Bomholt found his 600th career win as a head coach on Jan. 14 as the Jay County boys basketball team demolished the South Adams Starfires 61-14 in the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament. JCHS suffocated the Starfires, holding them to just 14.8% from the field as the Patriots came out with determination to earn their coach his milestone win.

Bomholt picked up two more wins against Hagerstown and South Adams before he medically retired. Prior to retiring, he missed games against Adams Central and Blackford due to health scares.

He finished with a 602-393 record, which was 19th all-time in Indiana. He coached 44 seasons, including two stints at Jay County. He started with the Patriots in 1980 and left in 1984 before coming back for the 2020-21 season. In his 8.5 seasons with JCHS Bomholt earned a 112-86 (56.6%) record and two of his 13 sectional titles.

4. Facility upgrades

Several Jay County athletic facilities were approved for upgrades as part of an estimated $17.4 million capital project. The portion of the project related to athletics includes replacing pool treatment equipment, the dehumidification unit and the roof, reconstructing the track, relocating the tennis courts to the northwest corner of the “driving range” parking lot, expanding the practice area for girls wrestling and replacing baseball dugouts. It originally called for stabilizing the grandstand at Harold E. Schutz Memorial Stadium, but a new grandstand on the opposite side of the field is back on the table with a decision expected in early 2026.

5. Rolling to success

Both Fort Recovery bowling teams found success in the 2024-25 season. The Tribe boys finished second at the sectional and then fourth at the district to earn their first state berth. The Indians finished 11th with 3,842 pins, just 78 behind Washington, which was the final team to make bracket play.

The girls team ripped off a second consecutive state berth after winning its first sectional title and finishing as the runner-up at district. An off day in Columbus left the Indians with just 3,268 pins for 12th in the state.

The FRHS girls also shared the Midwest Athletic Conference title with Versailles for a second straight season after a perfect regular season and finishing second at the MAC tournament. Deanna Brown earned MAC Bowler of the Year. She averaged 183.7 pins per game for third in the MAC and had the best series of the season with 491 pins. Alison Rosegrant also took home MAC Co-Coach of the Year alongside Versailles’ Tyler Philpot.

6. Patriot hires

Jay County athletic director Alex Griffin was tasked with filling positions for the Patriots head football and boys basketball coaches during the offseason after a pair of Indiana Hall of Fame coaches retired.

Eddie Fields was tapped to take over for Grant Zgunda to lead the Patriot football team. Fields previously was the head coach at South Side and Manchester with a 14-28 record in four seasons. He also served in a variety of assistant roles at schools in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

Succeeding Jerry Bomholt was Tyler Rigby, who spent the previous 14 seasons as an assistant at Indiana University - East. Rigby is also a JCHS graduate and was a part of the 2006 team that advanced to the Class 3A state title game. Rigby was awarded the Arthur L. Trester Award for Mental Attitude that year.

7. Records broken

Emma Will and Jenna Homan combined to break four Fort Recovery softball records during the 2025 season. Will broke the FRHS record for career hits and runs. She broke Brenna Homan’s record of 120 hits against Anna on April 29 before finishing with a new mark of 143. Will later broke Brenna Homan’s record for career runs scored that sat at 109 during the district opener. She finished with 113 career runs scored.

Jenna Homan wrote her name in the record book three times. First she passed her sister, Jackie Homan, for career strikeouts. The previous mark was 293 and currently sits at 332 and counting. She later passed her sister and Andi Sutter for single-season wins (13) and single-season strikeouts (142), respectively. She finished with 16 wins and 162 strikeouts. 

8. Stepped down

After 11 seasons at the helm of the Patriot wrestling teams, Eric Myers stepped down as the Patriots’ head coach in April.

During his tenure leading the Jay County boys wrestling team, he sent wrestlers to the state tournament 10 years as part of a 14-year streak of Patriot representation that only ended in 2025. He also led JCHS to two sectional titles, a regional championship in 2023, and four team state appearances.

He also oversaw the creation of the girls wrestling team in 2018. The Patriots have had state representation in all eight seasons, including Mallory Winner, who was a four-time state champion. The girls also won the first IHSAA sanctioned sectional to qualify for the team state tournament, in which they finished third.

Myers, who won co-regional coach of the year in 2017, has since joined Adams Central as an assistant coach, while Tyler Leonhard took over the boys program and Troy Jacks runs the girls.

9. First title

Fort Recovery’s softball team reaped the benefits of moving to the southwest district in 2025 by winning its first district title in program history.

A three-run sixth inning helped the fifth-seeded Tribe upset No. 2 seed Tri-County North in the district opener 10-9. Ella Schoen and Alexis Grisez both drove in three runs while Jenna Homan earned the win in the circle with a complete game and nine strikeouts.

Emma Will played the hero in the championship game as she smashed the walk-off double to the left-center field wall to drive Paisley Hart in to claim the title. Jenna Homan again threw eight innings to earn the 4-3 victory.

10. Five in a row

The Jay County tennis teams continued their dominance of their respective sectional tournaments in 2025.

The girls tennis team picked up its fifth consecutive sectional title with a 4-1 victory over Winchester. Brenna Bailey and Meredith Dirksen zipped through the No. 1 and 2 singles, and No. 3 singles player, Lilly Johnson just edged out the No. 1 doubles duo of Faith Faulkner and Raylah Newton for the sectional clincher.

The boys tennis team picked up its fourth sectional championship 4-1 over Randolph Southern. The doubles teams powered the Patriots, despite Nick Snow needing to step into the No. 1 doubles duo for an injured Kadyn Carpenter. Paul Dirksen also earned a win, while the Rebels forfeited the No. 3 singles spot.