With four matches left in Thursday’s CIML Conference dual meet at Dowling Catholic, the Ankeny wrestling team held a 16-point lead and appeared to be on its way to a season-opening victory.
Then things suddenly went awry.
Dowling reeled off four straight triumphs, Ankeny was penalized a team point along the way for unsportsmanlike conduct, and that allowed the Maroons to emerge with the win on criteria after the two teams finished in a 33-33 tie.
“I was strangely calm actually,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall. “But everything that could have possibly went wrong tonight went wrong. Maybe we just got all of that out of the way.”
The Hawks won six of the first 10 matches and built a 34-18 advantage when Karsten Bernholtz posted a 10-1 major decision over Kade Krause at 215 pounds. It was the varsity debut for Bernholtz, a junior.
“Karsten’s a baseball guy, but some of the wrestlers convinced him to go out,” Wignall said. “Man, he has been a bright spot. I just can’t believe how well he wrestled tonight. I was very, very impressed.”
Dowling started its comeback at 285, where Brady Hagan posted a 5-2 decision over Jack Dorfler. Dorfler didn’t start practicing until this week after taking a week off following the completion of Ankeny’s football season.
“Even in some of our losses, there were some bright spots,” Wignall said. “I had no intention of wrestling a heavyweight tonight. I wanted to see where we started the meet and where the meet was at. But, we needed a heavyweight. We’ve got two of them, and they have different strengths. So we did rock-paper-scissors to see which one of them would wrestle.”
The Maroons got a big victory at 106 from Jack Wallukait, who posted a 15-11 decision over returning state qualifier Ben Walsh. Wallukait fell behind in the first period before rallying for the win.
At 113, Dowling’s Kyler Simons recorded a fall over Isaac Wignall just as the match ended. Wignall held a 7-5 lead after two periods and rode Simons for most of the third period before Simons turned Wignall onto his back in the final seconds.
Wyatt Heffron then sealed the Maroons’ win by defeating Vaughn Houston, 11-6, at 120.
“We made every mistake that we could have possibly made,” said Wignall, whose team held a 30-9 lead after the first seven matches. “It cost us a dual meet tonight, but that’s the way it goes. We can’t change it, so we’ll just move forward.”
The Hawks got pins from Truman Folkers at 126, Kash Johnson at 150, Teagen Peiffer at 157 and Jeremiah Peters at 165. Ben Hansen won by forfeit at 144.
Folkers opened the meet with a fall over Charlie Kelly in 3 minutes 50 seconds.
“He kicked it off for us,” Wignall said. “I thought he looked fantastic.”
Ankeny will compete in the Dan Gable Donnybrook on Friday and Saturday at Xtream Arena in Coralville. The event will force the Hawks to get back onto the mat right away following Thursday’s disappointing loss.
“That’s why we wrestle at this tournament,” Wignall said. “It’s a short turnaround, and we want a baptism by fire. We are going to put the kids to the test.”
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Dowling Catholic (won by criteria) 33, Ankeny 33
126: Folkers (A) pinned Kelly, 3:50; 132: Conn (D) beat Perez, 7-4; 138: Fitzgerald (D) pinned Rouh, :57; 144: Hansen (A) won by forfeit; 150: Johnson (A) pinned Bright, 1:23; 157: Peiffer (A) pinned Swift, 1:23; 165: Peters (A) pinned Moffet, 3:33; 175: Touney (D) beat Egeberg, 9-3; 190: Hilligas (D) pinned Schlee, 2:39; 215: Bernholtz (A) beat Krause, 10-1; 285: Hagan (D) beat Dorfler, 5-2; 106: Wallukait (D) beat Walsh, 15-11; 113: Simons (D) pinned Wignall, 6:00; 120: Heffron (D) beat Houston, 11-6.
