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By Anna Kayser One year after losing in the quarterfinals and wrestling his way back to fifth place at 106 pounds at the IHSAA State Finals, Lake Central senior Mason Jones is looking to leave it all on the mat. Throughout his high school career, he hasn’t taken too many losses. Eleven as a sophomore, two a year ago – the second coming in that pivotal quarterfinal match that would inevitably propel him into his final high school campaign – and none thus far as he gears up for semi-state this coming weekend. If you’re counting along, that means Mason Jones has racked up a lot of wins through three years as a varsity wrestler for Lake Central. There was just more to learn in the losses. “I feel like I took away from just my overall season last year that there was always more I could do, more I could work towards especially when I came up short,” Jones said. “Last year at state, it felt like everything stopped and that it was all over. I had to take some time, sit down and remember that it wasn’t over, there was still more to go.” Jones now enters his final run at a state title ranked No. 1 in his semi-state 106 pounds and No. 2 in the state, trailing only Delta freshman Jensen Boyd. The rankings are one aspect that has helped him build that strong mental foundation. “I’d say it is a bit of a confidence boost, seeing that after all this time – all the work that I’ve put in to get to where I am now – I’m getting a bit of recognition,” Jones said. Looking back on last year’s state run, his mental game is strides ahead of where it was last February. Following his quarterfinals loss, his coaches expressed the importance of confidence and staying true to his wrestling style even under the bright lights. After getting his first state finals experience under his belt last year, he now steps into an opportunity this year with a more collected demeanor. “His mental game wasn’t 100 percent there yet [last year], but the biggest difference this year is the confidence,” Lake Central head coach Luke Triveline said. “He’s putting in work in the offseason, he put in the work in the offseason, he’s doing his conditioning, he’s got good practice partners, obviously our team is doing well. And he’s really putting in the effort to mentally believe in himself and put him in a position to make a state title run. That confidence is just a sliver of his mental game, something that was torn down after that loss in the quarterfinals and something he’s built back up to become one of the best wrestlers in the state. “My dad is always telling me, ‘On any given day, anybody can win and anybody can lose. You have to go out there and give it 100 percent every time you step onto the mat’” Jones said. “I go out there knowing that I just have to outwork whoever I’m wrestling, otherwise there’s no guarantee that I get my hand raised.” There’s a balance between being humble and not taking a season record or ranking for good, and Jones works hard to keep that balance in check. “We just try to keep them humble, keep them hungry and keep them working to do what a state champion does,” Triveline said. “There’s only one state champ in each weight class, so you’ve got to be able to do more and push yourself more than you think you’re even capable of.” Now, Jones is focusing on giving all he can to finish out his high school career on his terms, leaving everything he has on the mat as opposed to walking away thinking he could have given more.

Mike and Joe are joined by TripleB to go over one of the top four semi-states!

By JEREMY HINES Thehines7@gmail.com Columbus North junior Justice Thornton is a patient person. In his view, patience is a key to success. Thornton uses his patience when competing against his family in his favorite board game, Monopoly. He learns what his opponents are trying to do, then he figures out a way to counter their strategy. He’s got a pretty good success rate against his older brother and his two sisters. But Thornton is not just patient on family game night. He uses the same approach on the wrestling mat where he is a three-time Conference Indiana champion as well as three time sectional and regional champion. “Monopoly is a game about thinking,” Thornton said. “You have to figure out how you’re going to play. It really correlates to wrestling. In wrestling, you have to figure out what your opponent does and you have to use that against them.” According to Columbus North coach Matt Joyce, Thornton uses his smarts to be successful on the mat. “He is extremely competitive, in a good way,” Joyce said. “He really enjoys wrestling. He’s a really smart wrestler. He knows where he can wrestle well. He’s really broadened his technique too as he’s gotten older.” Thornton agrees. “There are some wrestlers that are really fast and athletic,” he said. “There are some guys that are just absolute powerhouses. I like to think my strength is in my technique. I’m not the fastest or the strongest, but I win with technique. Justice qualified for state last year. He did not advance past the Friday night round. This year he’s hoping to change that. He has his sights set on standing on top of the podium. Last season Justice was wrestling in semistate against Brady Ison. It was a close match. Ison went for a front headlock and it ended up causing Justice to black out for 30 seconds. He then had to injury default to fourth place. “We had to take Justice to the hospital to get checked out,” Joyce said. “He was OK, but that set him up for a tough Friday night, drawing a No. 1 semistate champ in the first round. This year he’s going out there and trying to take care of business.” Thornton is one of nine Columbus North wrestlers competing in the Evansville semistate Saturday. Thornton, Cohen Long and Asher Ratliff all enter the competition as regional champions. Thornton is currently 31-1 on the year at 138 pounds. Long, a freshman, is 28-8 at 132 and Ratliff, a sophomore, is ranked No. 9 at 157 with a 35-2 record. “Asher is the starting quarterback for the football team and just broke the school’s single season take-down record,” Joyce said. Nolan Riley, Josiah Green, Luke Spurgeon, Evan Saevre, Keller DeSpain and Jose Ramirez will also be competing at the semistate for Columbus North. Last season Thornton was the lone Bulldog to advance to state. “I really hope I have some teammates with me this year,” Thornton said. “Asher has a decent draw for semistate. Cohen wrestles a kid he lost to earlier in the season but we’re going to help him prepare for that. Luke is someone I practice with a lot. I hope some of these guys have a great day Saturday.” As for his own goal, Thornton isn’t satisfied with just making it to state. “My goal is to win the ticket round on Saturday,” he said. “Then I want to go into that championship match. It will be close, but hopefully I can get my hand raised there. Then I’ll go ahead and win on Friday night of the state finals and then on Saturday I want to be the one standing on top of the podium when it’s all over.”

Rex Brewer and Dane Fuelling look back at the area regionals and look ahead to SemiState, and are also joined this week by guests: Jimmy Linn of New Haven, Cody LeCount of Delta, Andy King of Oak Hill, and Sam Riesen of East Noble

Mike and Joe are joined by Dane Fuelling to talk about the Fort Wayne Semi-State and all the great matches in da Wayne.