Due to some illnesses, the Ankeny wrestling team entered Saturday’s Frank Baltzley Invitational at Johnston with a depleted lineup.
The Hawks competed without two of their five ranked wrestlers, including second-ranked Ben Hansen at 144 pounds. Hansen has been sick all week, although he did record a pin on Thursday to help his team to a win over Waukee.
“We had guys out who are leaders and the other kids feed off them, and we just didn’t have those kids in the lineup,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall. “I don’t think we showed what we’re capable of, but we just didn’t wrestle very well either.”
Ankeny placed 10th in the 13-team tournament with 89 points. The Hawks had three top-four finishes and five more in the top eight.
No. 2 Southeast Polk easily defended its team title, racking up 269 points. Indianola was second with 172 points, followed by the host Dragons with 147.5.
Ankeny was led by No. 5 Truman Folkers at 126. Folkers (7-2) pinned his first two opponents before dropping a 10-0 major decision to No. 3 Maximus Riggins of Southeast Polk in the finals.
Folkers had placed third at 113 at last year’s tournament.
“Truman was sick and didn’t feel very well,” Wignall said. “He gutted it out, but Riggins handed it to him a little bit. I don’t think that was indicative of how Truman can wrestle.”
Folkers’ teammate, Aiden Winkie, placed fourth at the same weight. Winkie (7-5) was pinned by Riggins in the quarterfinals, but then won his next two matches before dropping a 7-4 decision to Rylan Hilton of Indianola in the third-place match.
“Aiden is a backup 126-pounder, and he wrestled lights out,” Wignall said. “He beat one of Johnston’s good kids who was a state qualifier last year (No. 10 Shandrel Thompson). And in all of his losses, he’s been within a point or two of winning the match against some good kids. I’m really excited about his potential. He’s been a bright spot for us.”
No. 9 Teagen Peiffer placed third for the Hawks at 157. After dropping a 7-6 decision in the semifinals to No. 8 Wyatt Vlasek of Cedar Rapids Prairie, Peiffer (9-3) bounced back to win his next two matches, capped off by a fall over Easton Biladeau of Southeast Polk in 1 minute 51 seconds.
“Teagen wrestled really well,” Wignall said. “I’m really happy with him.”
No. 3 Ben Walsh took fifth at 106. Walsh (6-4) pinned Sawyer Nelson of Indianola in 3:07 in the fifth-place match.
Perez Perez (5-6) also placed fifth at 132. He closed out the tournament with a 9-7 decision over Nick Esser of Dallas Center-Grimes.
Vaughn Houston at 120, Jacob Schlee at 165 and Andrew Haase at 215 each finished eighth for the Hawks.
“We just didn’t wrestle great, but that happens sometimes,” Wignall said.
Ankeny will return to Johnston on Thursday for a CIML Conference dual meet against the Dragons.
