Eighth-ranked Ankeny advanced five wrestlers into Friday’s quarterfinals in the Class 3A state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.
Crosstown rival Ankeny Centennial advanced three of its wrestlers into the quarterfinals. The Jaguars also have senior Cael Wiener alive in the consolation bracket.
Both Ankeny and Centennial entered the tournament with seven state qualifiers. The Hawks, who won their first five matches on Thursday before dropping their last two, are in 11th place with 15 points heading into Friday.
Centennial scored 10.5 points on the opening day of the tournament. The Jaguars are in 18th place.
No. 2 Southeast Polk leads the Class 3A field with 36.5 points. No. 1 Waverly-Shell Rock and No. 3 Waukee Northwest are tied for second with 32.
Senior Trever Anderson is one of Ankeny’s five quarterfinalists. The second-ranked Anderson pinned Jacob McKenzie of Norwalk in 1 minute 4 seconds at 120 pounds.
A two-time state champion, Anderson (33-1) will meet No. 12 Braxten Westendorf of Waverly-Shell Rock (28-13) in the quarterfinals.
“I just went out there and wrestled my match and tried to score as many points as possible,” said Anderson.
No. 6 Truman Folkers at 106, No. 5 JJ Maihan at 113, No. 5 Ben Hansen at 126 and No. 7 Jace Anderson at 145 also advanced to the quarterfinals.
Anderson won a hard-fought battle against No. 10 Cooper Paxton of Waterloo West, 5-4. He will take a 33-6 mark into his quarterfinal match against No. 3 Dustin Bohren of Bettendorf (34-5), a returning state champ.
Hansen recorded a pin over Noah Madison of Johnston in 3:28. He advances to a quarterfinal match against No. 7 Kael Kurtz of Iowa City High (36-4), who posted a 9-1 major decision over Hansen in last year’s seventh-place match at 106.
Hansen (29-7) bounced back after losing both of his matches on Wednesday during the Class 3A state duals tournament.
“Dual state is in the past so I just had to wash it from my mind and move on,” Hansen said. “Today was a new day so I just focused on the very next thing.”
Folkers posted a 13-4 major decision over Reid Foster of Bondurant-Farrar. He will take a 20-4 record into his quarterfinal match against No. 4 Caden Leonard of Johnston (32-4).
Maihan improved to 25-11 with a 3-0 decision over Ryan Rider of Carlisle. He will face No. 3 Bowen Downey of Indianola (38-3) on Friday.
Centennial got first-round wins from No. 5 Lucas Bruhl at 138, No. 3 Carter Cahill at 152 and No. 4 Jackson Helmkamp at 160.
“Those three guys all wrestled pretty dominating matches,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “And I think we’re in a good place with all three of them. I think we’ve got three winnable matches on Friday.”
Cahill posted an 8-0 major decision over Trayton Kurimski of Western Dubuque (Epworth) to raise his record to 34-4. He will meet No. 5 Peyton Westlin of North Scott (32-5) in the quarterfinals.
Cahill is looking to improve on his fifth-place finish from a year ago.
“There’s always nerves going into it no matter how many times you go,” Cahill said. “But yes, I do believe last year helped and I now know how to deal with all of those emotions. And yes, it does feel good to get the first one out of the way.”
Helmkamp rolled to a 13-1 major decision over Elijah Terwilleger of Iowa City Liberty. He will face No. 12 Cole Rutter of Spencer (33-7) on Friday.
Helmkamp (9-1) blanked Rutter, 8-0, in last week’s district final.
“We feel good about his chances to beat him again,” Groth said.
Bruhl posted a 7-3 decision over No. 9 Cooper Wiemann of Mason City. He will take an 18-2 mark into his quarterfinal match against No. 4 Jacob Helgeson of Johnston (36-3).
“Those two guys have wrestled many times, and I’m sure they’re both looking forward to that match,” Groth said. “It’s a lot of offense with those two guys. But I think Lucas can win that one.”
Wiener was pinned by No. 6 Cooper Hanson of Southeast Polk in 4:26 in a first-round match at 132. He then rebounded with a technical fall over Lincoln Brookhart of Muscatine, 17-2, in a consolation match.
Wiener (19-10) will await the loser of a quarterfinal match between No. 1 Evan Frost of Dowling Catholic (31-1) and No. 9 Ty Solverson of Boone (32-5). He could get a chance to avenge his loss to Solverson in the semifinals of the district tournament.
“Cael looked really good in his second match,” Groth said. “Hopefully, he can keep it going on Friday.”
Centennial’s Payton Bright at 120, Carter Bennett at 145 and Kaden Kaiser at 195 each lost their first two matches and were eliminated from the tournament.
Bright was pinned by No. 1 Carter Freeman of Waukee Northwest in 1:42. He then dropped an 8-5 decision to No. 10 Ayden Nicklaus of Davenport West to finish with a 19-24 record.
“Payton had some moments. I thought he had (Nicklaus) in trouble a couple times, and I thought he was going to make it through on the back side,” Groth said. “Unfortunately, Carter and Kaden had some tough draws and didn’t make it through. But I’m happy that they made it to the state tournament and they went out and wrestled hard, and that’s all you can ask.”
Bennett (30-16) was pinned by No. 4 Bas Diaz of Waverly-Shell Rock in 4:16. He then dropped a 6-2 decision to No. 12 Cinsere Clark of Valley.
Kaiser (30-17) was pinned by No. 2 Bradley Hill of Bettendorf in 1:04. He then lost to Cade Sheedy of Davenport North, 7-2.
Ankeny’s Xander Kenworthy at 170 and Will Hinrichs at 182 were also eliminated from the tournament.
Kenworthy (26-15) dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 4 Braylon Kammrad of Council Bluffs Lewis Central. He then lost to Porter Smith of Bondurant-Farrar, 7-2.
Hinrichs (14-10) lost to No. 3 Ben Egli of Fort Dodge, 5-0, in the opening round. He then dropped an 11-6 decision to Chase Hutchinson of Valley.
The Class 2A and 3A quarterfinals will begin on Friday at 9 a.m. The Class 3A and 1A semifinals will begin at 7:30 p.m.