Hawk wrestlers roll past Valley, will meet Tigers again in Class 3A regional dual

Ankeny’s Angelo Wernau celebrates after recording a fall over Valley’s Owen Walker in just 21 seconds in the 165-pound match during Thursday’s dual meet at Ankeny. Wernau’s pin helped the Hawks to a 46-15 victory. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)

Thursday’s wrestling dual meet at Ankeny was a preview of Tuesday’s regional dual at Indianola.

Ankeny posted a 46-15 victory over Valley in its final dual of the regular season. The Hawks finished 3-5 in the CIML Conference and raised their overall record to 8-9.

The two teams will meet again in the opening round of a Class 3A regional dual next week.

**Ankeny’s Andrew Haase battles Valley’s Alejandro Camarillo-Diaz in the 285-pound match during Thursday’s dual meet. Haase posted a 2-1 decision for the Hawks. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)**

“I was happy with the way we wrestled,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall, who was home sick with the flu but watched the meet online. “It was our second weigh-in of the week this late in the season, and that’s always kind of burdensome with kids cutting weight. But overall, I was just really pleased with how we wrestled.”

Both teams made some lineup changes for strategic purposes. Valley wrestled some junior varsity kids, while Ankeny used most of its varsity regulars with the exception of heavyweight Jack Dorfler.

“We kind of bumped around a little bit at the upper weights,” Wignall said. “We moved up Bodie Creaseman (to 215 pounds) and Andrew Haase (to 285), and they both won.”

Ankeny assistant coach Austin Anderson gives some instructions to Andrew Haase during his victory at 285 pounds. Anderson directed the Hawks in the absence of head coach Jack Wignall. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)

Assistant coach Austin Anderson guided the Hawks in Wignall’s absence.

“Austin is a very good game planner, and he had a pretty good idea of what Valley was going to try to do,” Wignall said. “The new head coach at Valley is a competitor, and I know he’s going to try to win. But we were just a little bit better.”

Ankeny had four falls, including one by fifth-ranked Ben Hansen, who bumped up to 150 and pinned Carter Kivell in 30 seconds.

“Hansen didn’t get to wrestle JahKari Clark, but we might see that matchup on Tuesday,” Wignall said. “I don’t know if Valley was avoiding Ben, but Clark didn’t wrestle for some reason.”

**Ankeny’s Ben Hansen looks for an opening against Valley’s Carter Kivell during the 150-pound match. Hansen recorded a fall in 30 seconds. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)**

The winner of Tuesday’s meet will then face No. 2 Indianola in the regional final for a trip to the state duals. The Hawks lost to Indianola, 46-19, at the Battle of Waterloo on Dec. 16.

Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:

Ankeny 46, Valley 15

138: Cochran (V) beat Claeys, 7-3; 144: Perez pinned Adair, :21; 150: Hansen pinned Kivell, :30; 157: C. Clark (V) beat Peiffer, 2-1; 165: Wernau pinned Walker, :21; 175: VanArkel (V) won by forfeit; 190: Monson (V) beat Schlee, 11-5; 215: Creaseman beat Shipley, 8-2; 285: Haase beat Camarillo-Diaz, 2-1; 106: Walsh beat Mavromatis, 9-3; 113: Wignall pinned Alberico, 1:49; 120: Winkie beat Schulz, 13-0; 126: T. Folkers won by technical fall over Hotak, 18-2; 132: Perez beat Kiner, 11-3.