Ankeny girls’ wrestling coach Dustin Roland made some changes to his lineup for Tuesday’s dual meet against visiting Southeast Polk.
The revamped lineup produced a 54-24 victory over the Rams in the CIML Conference matchup.
“Our girls really showed a team-first attitude when we told seven girls they were wrestling up a weight or not going to be in the lineup,” said Roland.
Ankeny recorded six falls and won three other matches by forfeit. Southeast Polk had open weights at 100 pounds, 105 and 235.
“A win is a win, but shoutout to Southeast Polk who scrapped tonight with a short-handed squad,” Roland said. “It would have been interesting to see the outcome with their full lineup.”
Ankeny got pins from Nora Bockes at 115, Trudy Haag at 120, Elyse Engebretson at 125, fourth-ranked Hayden Bratland at 140, No. 6 Dana Cleveland at 145 and No. 2 Haylee McGrew, who moved up from 155 to 170 and pinned Sophie Reed in 1 minute 13 seconds.
Cleveland had the fastest fall of the night. She pinned Alexis Steele in 59 seconds.
“Dana has been the rock of our team since the beginning and continued that trend tonight,” Roland said.
Fellow seniors Ella Hron and Mallorie McGuire also earned praise from Roland despite losing their matches.
“Tonight was about the seniors, and I could not have been more proud of Mallorie for how hard she fought against one of the best girls in the country (Bella Porcelli),” Roland said. “And Ella has shown so much courage after coming back from an injury that would have ended most people’s career.”
Ankeny raised its records to 2-0 in the conference and 9-0 overall. The team will compete next in the Battle of Waterloo on Thursday.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Roland said. “Our team will leave (Wednesday) and head to Waterloo to tour the National Wrestling Museum before taking on some of the top teams in the state on Thursday.”
Here are the match-by-match results from Tuesday’s meet:
Ankeny 54, S.E. Polk 24
120: Haag pinned Sherman, 3:22; 125: Engebretson pinned Crabb, 1:01; 130: Sams (SEP) beat Daggett, 5-3; 135: Scarff (SEP) beat Postma, 9-6; 140: Bratland pinned Holdaway, 1:14; 145: Cleveland pinned Steele, :59; 155: Slade (SEP) pinned Shade, 2:29; 170: McGrew pinned Reed, 1:13; 190: Porcelli (SEP) pinned McGuire, 3:26; 235: Martinez won by forfeit; 100: Watson won by forfeit; 105: Sullivan won by forfeit; 110: Rodriguez-Acosta (SEP) pinned Hron, 3:15; 115: Bockes pinned Tucker, 2:52.
