By Cort Reynolds
Ada senior Chase Sumner won the 145 lbs. individual league title, repeated as the league's top grappler and the Bulldog wrestling team finished fourth at the eight-team Northwest Conference championship meet Saturday in Ada.
Sumner was voted the NWC Most Valuable Wrestler by the coaches for the second straight year. Mike Abbey of league champion Allen East was voted NWC Coach of the Year.
It was the first time Ada has hosted the NWC wrestling title event. Defending title-holder AE repeated as champion with 233.5 points.
Columbus Grove edged Bluffton for second (199-195) while Ada (147.5) nipped Spencerville (146) and Paulding for fourth (143.5) place.
Two-time all-stater Sumner registered a perfect 4-0 record on the day at 145 pounds to improve to 15-1.
Sumner won the NWC crown at four different weight classes from 2015-18: he won at 120 lbs. as a freshman, at 132 as a sophomore and then at 138 last year as a junior.
Top seed Sumner had a first round bye, then beat freshman Caden Johnston of Spencerville by pin at 2:17. Next, he pinned freshman Tanner Blankemeyer of Columbus Grove at 2:28.
In round four, Sumner beat freshman Elijah Conley from Bluffton 21-6 by technical fall. He then pinned Delphos Jefferson sophomore Ben McKee by pin at 2:26 to finish the day undefeated.
Sumner entered his senior year with 116 career wins and surpassed the program record of 127 individual victories set by Austin Windle.
Ada senior Xander White (3-2) came in third in the 182 lbs. division on the strength of three pins. Classmate Kade Cortez (2-2) also finished third in the 132 lbs. bracket with two pins. Bulldog freshman Colton Beiderman (0-2) finished third at 106.
Senior Erryk Katayama (2-3) finished fourth at 195 lbs. behind a pair of pins. Ada senior Adam Bailey (2-3) also came in fourth at 285 lbs. with a pin and a 5-3 decision.
Junior Carson Hissong (2-3) ended up fourth at 160 lbs. with a pin and 15-3 decision. Junior Tyler Onions (0-3) ended up fourth at 170.
Ada freshman Cameron Bober (0-3) took fourth at 132 lbs. Bulldog sophomore Reece Evans (1-4) ended up fifth at 152 lbs.
Allen East sophomore Chase Caprella repeated as an NWC champion at 113 lbs. As a freshman, he won the league crown at 106.
NWC team standings
1. Allen East 233.5 points
2. Columbus Grove 199
3. Bluffton 195
4. Ada 147.5
5. Spencerville 146
6. Paulding 143.5
7. Delphos Jefferson 127
8. Lincolnview 14
Individual weight class placers, with class and school
106:
1st Tayton Kleman 9, Bluffton
2nd Jordan Kennedy 10, Allen East
3rd Colton Biederman 9, Ada
113:
1st Chase Caprella 10, Allen East
2nd Jeremy Sturgeon 9, Bluffton
3rd Caleb Langhals 11, Columbus Grove
120:
1st Drake Carmean 9, Allen East
2nd Jordan Mudel 10, Paulding
3rd Josh Mehaffie 9, Bluffton
4th Mark Rice 10, Jefferson
5th Grayson Ford 10, Spencerville
126:
1st Ryan Woodring 12, Paulding
2nd Johnathon Brooks 10, Jefferson
3rd Ryder Romick 12, Bluffton
4th Garrett Jones 10, Spencerville
132:
1st Logan Mudel 12, Paulding
2nd Jay Goetz 10, Spencerville
3rd Kade Cortez 12, Ada
4th Evan Schroeder 10, Columbus Grove
5th Trent Pearson 9, Bluffton
138:
1st Lucas Freeman 12, Allen East
2nd Jordan Weidenhamer 12, Paulding
3rd Cody Bockey 9, Spencerville
4th Cameron Bober 9, Ada
145:
1st Chase Sumner 12, Ada
2nd Elijah Conley 9, Bluffton
3rd Ben McKee 10, Jefferson
4th Caden Johnston 9, Spencerville
152:
1st James Badial-Luna 12, Bluffton
2nd Cooper Chung 12, Jefferson
3rd Blake Hershberger 9, Allen East
4th Dylan Pitts 11, Columbus Grove
5th Reece Evans 10, Ada
6th Brennan Greber 9, Spencerville
160:
1st Caleb Welch 9, Allen East
2nd Ezra Jones 9, Columbus Grove
3rd Xavier Greber 9, Spencerville
4th Carson Hissong 11, Ada
5th Riley Coil 10, Paulding
6th Jesse Montel 11, Bluffton
170:
1st Enoch Jones 12, Columbus Grove
2nd Adrian Simonin 11, Paulding
3rd Ethan Boday 10, Allen East
4th Tyler Onions 11, Ada
182:
1st Garrett Neth 10, Allen East
2nd Kane Plescher 10, Jefferson
3rd Xander White 12, Ada
4th Ian Langhals 9, Columbus Grove
5th Reuben Noriega 9, Spencerville
6th Louis Ulrey 9, Lincolnview
195:
1st Deandre Nasser 11, Bluffton
2nd Dakota Sargeant 10, Columbus Grove
3rd Brandon Dues 9, Spencerville
4th Erryk Katayama 12, Ada
5th Jordan Bonifas 12, Jefferson
6th Cole Austin 9, Allen East
220:
1st Dylan Sargeant 10, Columbus Grove
2nd Landen Luginbuhl 10, Bluffton
3rd Jayden Moore 12, Jefferson
4th Corbin McKinley 9, Spencerville
285:
1st Jeff Meyer 9, Columbus Grove
2nd Brennan Davies 10, Allen East
3rd Brandon O'Dell 12, Spencerville
4th Adam Bailey 12, Ada
5th David Parsons 12, Lincolnview
6th Sloan Foster 11, Paulding
Ada hosts Van Buren Thursday, Feb. 8 in a dual match, and visits Ben Logan with Buckeye Valley Feb. 9.
The Div. III sectionals are in Lima Feb. 24.
