Hawks are tied for 9th place in Class 3A, advance 5 wrestlers to quarterfinals

Ankeny’s Perez Perez battles Southeast Polk’s Justis Jesuroga during a second-round match at 132 pounds in the Class 3A state wrestling tournament on Wednesday at Wells Fargo Arena. Perez posted an 8-4 decision over the fourth-seeded Jesuroga to help the Hawks to a tie for ninth place after the opening day of the tournament. He is one of the team’s five quarterfinalists. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)

With only three top-eight seeds among its nine state qualifiers, the Ankeny wrestling team likely wasn’t expected to contend for a top-10 finish at this week’s Class 3A tournament at Wells Fargo Arena.

But the Hawks are doing just that.

On Wednesday, Ankeny went 8-4 on the opening day of the tournament and advanced five wrestlers to Thursday’s quarterfinals. The Hawks are tied with Dubuque Hempstead for ninth place in Class 3A with 31.5 points.

“It was a very good day,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall. “And even our kids that got beat–other than Angelo Wernau–were really in those matches, too. I think it just shows that the guys are wrestling really well right now, and that’s exciting for us.”

**Ankeny coach Jack Wignall congratulates Ben Walsh after his fall over Bondurant-Farrar’s Coby Fiser in a second-round match at 106 pounds. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)**

Top-ranked Southeast Polk leads the Class 3A field with 58 points. No. 4 Ankeny Centennial is in second with 48.5 points, one more than No. 2 Bettendorf.

Ankeny went 3-3 in the first round, then won five of its six matches in the second round. Sixth-seeded Ben Walsh at 106 pounds, No. 11 Isaac Wignall at 113, No. 5 Truman Folkers at 126, No. 13 Perez Perez at 132 and No. 4 Ben Hansen at 144 each advanced to the quarterfinals.

“Our team did great,” said Hansen, a three-time placewinner. “I couldn’t watch every match, but I’ll have to go back later and see how everyone did.”

Hansen posted a 13-3 major decision over Parker Casey of Johnston in the second round. He raised his record to 29-3.

**The arm of Ankeny’s Ben Hansen is raised following his 13-3 major decision over Johnston’s Parker Casey in a second-round match at 144 pounds. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)**

“The first (match) you’re always feeling a little anxious about it, so getting it out of the way is important,” said Hansen, who received a bye in the opening round.

Hansen took an elbow above his right eye during warmups that left a bump on his head.

“I really don’t know what happened,” Hansen said. “But it is what it is.”

Both Folkers and Walsh advanced to the quarterfinals with pins. Folkers improved his mark to 26-6, while Walsh is now 24-8.

**Ankeny’s Truman Folkers tries to turn Fort Dodge’s Sam Davidson onto his back during a second-round match at 126 pounds. Folkers eventually got a fall in 1 minute 26 seconds. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)**

“Those three guys did exactly what we expected them to do,” Wignall said. “They were workmanlike with what they were doing.”

Wignall’s nephew and Perez both had to win two matches on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals. Isaac (18-6) won his first match by a technical fall, then nearly got another one when he posted a 14-1 major decision over No. 6 Ashton Grace of Ottumwa in the second round.

Grace lost for only the fourth time in 39 matches this season.

“Isaac beat Grace by a point at the end of the match in the preseason,” Wignall said. “So to go out there and almost tech fall the kid was huge.”

Ankeny assistant coach Austin Anderson congratulates Isaac Wignall following his 14-1 major decision over sixth-seeded Austin Grace of Ottumwa in a second-round match at 113 pounds. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)

Perez posted one of the biggest upsets of the day when he defeated No. 4 Justis Jesuroga of Southeast Polk, 8-4, in the second round. Perez improved to 26-15 on the season.

“I was pretty nervous, but I knew if I pushed the pace and kept my feet moving I’d give a good match,” said Perez, who scored two takedowns in the third period to break away from a 3-3 tie. “It gave me more motivation when he was getting tired. I was tired too, but I knew I could keep going and going. This is what I trained for all year.”

Wignall wasn’t surprised by the outcome of the match.

“We really thought Perez could wrestle with him,” he said. “Perez has really turned it on these last few weeks. He has a habit of only wrestling hard in the third period when he’s down, but I told him before he went out there that he needed to wrestle that first and second period like you do the third. And he did.”

**Ankeny’s Teagen Peiffer works for a fall against Boone’s Joseph Pestotnik during a first-round match at 157 pounds. Peiffer got the pin in 1 minute 11 seconds. (Photo by Dan Holm)**

Ankeny got a fall from No. 13 Teagen Peiffer at 157 in the first round. He was then pinned by No. 4 Lucas Bruhl of Ankeny Centennial in the second round.

Peiffer will wrestle in the consolation matches on Thursday along with teammates Aiden Winkie at 120, Angelo Wernau at 165 and Jack Dorfler at 285.

Here are Ankeny’s results from Wednesday:

106: Ben Walsh received a bye; pinned Coby Fiser (Bondurant-Farrar), 3:38.