Ankeny wrestler Truman Folkers only needed to win two matches on Saturday to capture an individual title in the Jack Mendenhall Invitational at Ames.
Folkers led his squad to a tie for fifth place in the 13-team field. Both Ankeny and Cedar Rapids Prairie finished with 138 points.
Fort Dodge won the tournament with 195 points. Indianola was second with 187.
“Overall, we wrestled pretty well,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall. “Unless you win it or have 14 champs, you’re always going to feel like we missed out on some points. But I thought we wrestled hard and showed a lot of fight.”
Folkers (16-4) won the 126-pound bracket that featured only seven competitors. He posted a 13-1 major decision over Valley’s Kash Kiner in the semifinals, then defeated Fort Dodge’s Sam Davidson, 5-0, to claim the crown.
“Truman probably didn’t wrestle great,” Wignall said. “I think he was a little frustrated he didn’t get to wrestle more. But he wrestled well enough to win it, and that was great.”
Isaac Wignall (7-3) earned a runner-up finish at 113. After posting a 4-2 victory over Iowa City High’s Kendall Kurtz in the semifinals, he dropped a 5-1 decision to Mac Crosson of Indianola in the title match.
“Isaac beat a ranked kid in the semis, then he lost to a kid from Indianola who he trains with at Sebolt (Academy),” Wignall said. “They know each other really well.”
Ben Hansen (18-2) placed third for the Hawks at 144. He dropped an 8-7 decision to eventual champion JahKari Clark of Valley in the semifinals, but then rebounded to win his next two matches–capped off by a 12-7 victory over Indianola’s Elijah Blewitt in the third-place match.
“I thought Ben wrestled well,” Wignall said. “He lost to an athletic kid from Valley in the semis. We knew that was going to be a tough matchup, but he came back strong.”
Placing fourth for Ankeny were Teagen Peiffer at 157 and Jack Dorfler at 285.
“Teagen wrestled well, but he probably had one of the deeper weights of the tournament. He had some close matches against some of the better kids in the state, and that tells me he’s one of the better kids in the state,” Wignall said. “And I thought Jack wrestled some great matches. He’s really starting to come around.”
Perez Perez at 132, Brady Claeys at 138 and Angelo Wernau at 165 each finished fifth.
The Hawks will host a CIML Conference dual meet against Waukee Northwest on Tuesday. The meet will be held at Southview Middle School.
