Two very different opponents awaited the Ankeny girls’ wrestling team on Tuesday at Waukee Northwest.
Ankeny opened the double dual meet with a 63-5 victory over Perry in a non-conference matchup. Coach Dustin Roland’s squad then dropped a 43-33 decision to host Raccoon River-Northwest in a CIML Conference dual.
“It was a rough night for us on the mat,” said Roland. “After defeating Perry, we battled hard against Raccoon River-Northwest but came up on the short end. They have been waiting a long time for this win so our hat’s off to them. They were definitely the better team tonight.”
Ankeny got falls against Raccoon River-Northwest from Nora Bockes at 110 pounds, Elyse Engebretson at 120, Hayden Bratland at 140, Dana Cleveland at 145 and Mallorie McGuire at 190. Aliayah Shade posted a 5-0 decision at 155.
“Our girls that were supposed to win took care of business,” Roland said. “Dana had a big win against a ranked girl that they bumped up to avoid Bratland. That’s a lesson learned for not giving Dana credit.”
Raccoon River-Northwest had six falls among its eight victories–four of them in 60 seconds or less. Defending state champion Katie Biscoglia posted a 15-3 major decision over Lauren Watson at 100, and Aleah Johnson posted a 4-0 decision over Josie Bishop at 170.
“I told our girls until we can figure out how to not give up a fall when we lose we will not jump to the next level,” Roland said. “My hat’s off to Josie, who is getting tougher every time she steps on the mat for us. Kudos to Lauren as well who battled hard against (Biscoglia).”
Trudy Haag at 115, Engebretson and Audri Headrick at 135 each had a pin against Perry, while Bockes won by a 7-2 decision. Ankeny won seven other matches by forfeit.
The split left Ankeny with records of 2-1 in the conference and 14-2 overall.
“This was our first-ever conference dual loss, which will be a good thing for us moving forward,” Roland said. “We left the locker room with this message: Our families still love us, the sun will come up tomorrow, and we would rather lose with this team than win with any other team in the state. We have two weeks to refocus and get better!
“On the way home, I got a text from a coaching friend that said, ‘Minor setback, major comeback,'” he added.
Here are the match-by-match results from both meets:
Ankeny 63, Perry 5
100: Double forfeit; 105: Ponce (P) won by technical fall over Sullivan, 19-4; 110: Bockes beat C. Erickson, 7-2; 115: Haag pinned Am. Canales, 5:02; 120: Engebretson pinned A. Erickson, 3:17; 125: Daggett won by forfeit; 130: Usmonova won by forfeit; 135: Headrick pinned Al. Canales, 1:52; 140: Double forfeit; 145: Cleveland won by forfeit; 155: Moser won by forfeit; 170: Bishop won by forfeit; 190: McGuire won by forfeit; 235: Irambona won by forfeit.
Raccoon River-Northwest 43, Ankeny 33
100: Biscoglia (R) beat Watson, 15-3; 105: Cooper (R) pinned Hron, 1:09; 110: Bockes (A) pinned Greenslade, 3:04; 115: Keller (R) pinned Haag, 3:49; 120: Engebretson (A) pinned Duncan, :53; 125: Rodish (R) pinned Lucas, :37; 130: Mitchell (R) pinned Daggett, :58; 135: Hancock (R) pinned Postma, :53; 140: Bratland (A) pinned Bruins, 2:46; 145: Cleveland (A) pinned Templeman, 1:31; 155: Shade (A) beat Rinehart, 5-0; 170: Johnson (R) beat Bishop, 4-0; 190: McGuire (A) pinned Oriho, 1:39; 235: Venales (R) pinned Irambona, 1:00.
