The Ankeny wrestling team placed second in a Class 3A district tournament on Saturday at Norwalk and qualified nine wrestlers for this week’s state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.
Ninth-ranked Johnston captured the district crown with 239.5 points. The Hawks finished with 182.5 points.
Ankeny crowned two champions among its six finalists and had three other wrestlers punch their tickets to state with third-place finishes.
“You always feel like you leave one or two guys hanging, and I felt that today,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall. “But I feel like we qualified a good number of kids today. They earned it for sure.”
Fifth-ranked Truman Folkers at 126 pounds and No. 4 Ben Hansen at 144 each won their first individual title. No. 6 Ben Walsh at 106, No. 7 Isaac Wignall at 113, Perez Perez at 132 and Teagen Peiffer each placed second for the Hawks.
Folkers pinned Shandrel Thompson of Johnston in 4 minutes 54 seconds to win the crown. He raised his record to 25-6 with a pair of falls.
“Truman looked good,” Wignall said.
Hansen posted an 11-3 major decision over No. 5 Parker Casey of Johnston. The three-time state placewinner improved to 28-3 on the season.
“Ben’s match was kind of close in the first and second periods, but he really pulled away from (Casey) at the end,” Wignall said. “He got some really good tilts and put the hammer down.”
Walsh (23-8) advanced to the finals before dropping an 8-7 decision to No. 2 Weston Porter of Council Bluffs Lewis Central. Walsh nearly handed Porter (32-0) his first loss.
“Ben took him down twice,” Wignall said. “I really thought he had it won, but credit to that kid. He battled back and wrestled hard.”
Perez also lost a close match in the finals, dropping a 5-4 decision to No. 8 Carter Schorich of Lewis Central. He is now 24-15 on the season.
“Perez can sure wrestle hard the last 2 or 3 minutes,” Wignall said. “He just came up short.”
Peiffer dropped a 6-4 decision to No. 12 Dominic Tigner of Norwalk. He is now 24-12.
Wignall’s nephew dropped a 13-4 major decision to No. 2 Tyler Harper of Norwalk. His record is now 16-6.
Both Walsh and Wignall rebounded with falls in a wrestle-back match for a true second place.
“Some of the coaches and officials were kind of scratching our heads about wrestling for a true second when the top three guys qualify for state,” Wignall said. “But I guess it has to do with the seedings at state.”
Ankeny’s Aiden Winkie at 120, Angelo Wernau at 165 and Jack Dorfler at 285 each qualified by placing third.
Wernau (6-7) pinned Emmanuel Davis of Des Moines East in 5:00 in the third-place match, while Dorfler (15-11) pinned Isaac Lara Marquez of East in 34 seconds. Winkie (20-16) posted a 12-2 major decision over Asaiah Martinez-Ruiz of Norwalk.
While Hansen will be making his fourth trip to the state tournament, Folkers has qualified for the third straight year. He placed sixth at 113 a year ago.
Perez will be making his second consecutive appearance. The state tournament begins on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. for the Class 3A qualifiers.
“We want to do some damage. That’s always the goal,” Wignall said. “Once you get down there, who knows what can happen? You have to wrestle like it’s going to be your last high school match, and for some of these guys it might be their last match.”
The top eight seeds at each weight receive a bye in the opening round. Here are Ankeny’s seeds and the matchups for Wednesday:
106: No. 6 Ben Walsh receives a bye; will face either No. 11 Coby Fiser of Bondurant-Farrar (27-10) or No. 22 AJ Dietz of Marion (10-18) in the second round.
113: No. 11 Isaac Wignall vs. No. 22 Max Panosh of Cedar Rapids Kennedy (22-25); No. 6 Ashton Grace of Ottumwa (35-3) awaits the winner in the second round.
120: No. 23 Aiden Winkie vs. No. 10 Jaymeson VanderVelde of Council Bluffs Lincoln (38-6); No. 7 Drew Anderson of Council Bluffs Lewis Central (32-10) awaits the winner in the second round.
126: No. 5 Truman Folkers receives a bye; will face either No. 12 Sam Davidson of Fort Dodge (18-10) or No. 21 Lincoln Miller of Waukee (10-11) in the second round.
132: No. 13 Perez Perez vs. No. 20 Hunter Strong of Davenport West (26-14); No. 4 Justis Jesuroga of Southeast Polk (22-7) awaits the winner in the second round.
144: No. 4 Ben Hansen receives a bye; will face either No. 13 Parker Casey of Johnston (8-3) or No. 20 Brayden Wiles of Cedar Falls (29-13) in the second round.
157: No. 13 Teagen Peiffer vs. No. 20 Joseph Pestotnik of Boone (25-12); No. 4 Isaac Bruhl of Ankeny Centennial (19-1) awaits the winner in the second round.
165: No. 23 Angelo Wernau vs. No. 10 Wyatt Hass of Davenport West (30-10); No. 7 Wesley Anderson of Waukee (23-6) awaits the winner in the second round.
285: No. 20 Jack Dorfler vs. No. 13 Brady Hagan of Dowling Catholic (16-8); No. 4 Drew Campbell of Cedar Falls (26-3) awaits the winner in the second round.
