By Cort Reynolds
Ada senior grappler Chase Sumner finished second in the 145 lbs. bracket at the Div. III wrestling districts in Troy's Hobart Arena Saturday to clinch yet another trip to the state meet.
Sumner enters his third straight state competition March 8 in Columbus with a 32-3 record. He is the career Bulldog wrestling program leader in individual wins with 148.
In the first round of the double-elimination event Friday, Sumner defeated freshman Lane Mefford of Indian Lake by technical fall, 17-0. Mefford dropped to 13-6 with the loss.
In the quarterfinals, Sumner beat familiar foe Zane Strubler (46-10) of Miami East by a 6-2 decision to clinch another trip to the state meet in Columbus.
On Saturday in the semifinals, Sumner pinned freshman Austin Awan (26-14) of Troy Christian at 2:22 of overtime.
The Bulldog senior then faced undefeated junior Joey Caprella of LCC in the 145 lbs. bracket finals. Caprella improved to 40-0 with a pin over Sumner in 4:24.
Caprella also handed Sumner one of his two previous losses this season in the sectional finals last weekend via a 12-3 decision.
Ada senior Kade Cortez also competed at the district competition. Cortez lost his first match in the 132 lbs. division Friday by pin at 2:53 to senior Dustin Robins (37-5) of Reading.
Then in the first consolation round later on Friday, Cortez was pinned by freshman Chase Trainer (27-9) of Greenon in 1:37 to be eliminated.
Cortez ended his season with a 13-10 record.
Ada finished 28th out of 62 teams with 21.5 points. Miami East won the team Div. III district crown with 140 points, just ahead of second-place Troy Christian (135). Allen East came in eighth with 75 points.
The Div. III state wrestling meet will be held March 8-10 at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus.
Sumner came in fourth, the best Ada finish ever, at the 2016 state event in the 132 lb. bracket.
Chase then moved up to the 138 lb. class last year and finished eighth at the state meet after suffering an ankle injury in the consolation quarterfinals. This season he moved up one more weight class again.
Sumner needs two victories at state to reach his pre-season goal of 150 career wins.
