Ankeny’s bid for a top-10 finish in the Class 3A state wrestling tournament took a major hit on Thursday afternoon during the second day of the four-day meet at Wells Fargo Arena.
The Hawks advanced two wrestlers into Friday’s semifinals, but lost three matches in overtime and another one by just one point. They are now in 15th place with 45.5 points after starting the day in a tie for ninth.
“I can’t even put it into words,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall. “You have a round like we did (Wednesday) and you’re on cloud nine, and then you have a round like today and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh!’
“But that’s just the way sports are sometimes–just inches and seconds away from being on the other side of a loss. But like I told you (Wednesday), we lost some close matches (on the first day), too. I think our guys are wrestling really well. We just lost some tough ones today,” he added.
Top-ranked Southeast Polk continues to lead the Class 3A field with 116.5 points. No. 2 Bettendorf is in second with 99, followed by No. 4 Ankeny Centennial with 77.5.
Fourth-seeded Ben Hansen at 144 pounds and No. 11 Isaac Wignall at 113 both advanced to the semifinals for the Hawks. This will be the second straight semifinal appearance for Hansen, a three-time placewinner.
Hansen built a big lead over Joe Hirsch of Western Dubuque before recording a fall in 5 minutes. He improved his record to 30-3.
“I really didn’t know much about him because he’s not from around the Des Moines metro. But I watched a couple matches on him (Wednesday) night just so I had an idea about him,” said Hansen. “I was wrestling a good match up until that point (in the third period). I wasn’t really expecting to get a pin there, but it was nice.”
Hansen will now face No. 1 Kane Naaktgeboren of Linn-Mar (Marion) in the semifinals. Naaktgeboren pinned Hansen in the semifinals last year at 138.
“I’ve trained with him on dual teams in the summer and I wrestled him twice last year, so I know a bit about him and I’m excited to get to wrestle him,” Hansen said. “I just have to stay strong in the match and stay in good position. He gets a lot of pins so I can’t come out of position.”
Wignall’s nephew, meanwhile, overcame an early 4-1 deficit to post a 12-6 decision over Kendall Kurtz of Iowa City High. He raised his mark to 19-6.
“I thought I could beat him because I already beat him earlier this year, but I was pretty nervous,” said Isaac. “Not much confidence…just nerves.”
Isaac will face Tyler Harper of Norwalk on Friday in a rematch of last week’s district final, which was won by Harper, 13-4.
“My goal was to make it to the semis and have a chance to get back at Harper for districts,” Isaac said. “I’ve got to stay out of bad shots and not get slid right by and give up easy takedowns.”
Coach Wignall said he has confidence in both of his semifinalists.
“They’re not done at all. It’s exciting,” he said. “You know what, kids get upset here all the time. Let’s do it.”
Ankeny lost three other quarterfinal matches by a combined three points. Two of those losses came in overtime.
No. 6 Ben Walsh dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to No. 3 Weston Porter of Council Bluffs Lewis Central at 106. Porter also edged Walsh, 8-7, in last week’s district final.
Porter scored a reversal in the third period to take a 2-1 lead, but Walsh then got an escape to force overtime. Porter eventually prevailed in the extra period, dropping Walsh to 24-9 on the season.
No. 5 Truman Folkers also suffered a heartbreaking loss in overtime, 2-1, to No. 4 Ryker Graff of Waverly-Shell Rock at 126. He is now 26-7 on the season.
At 132, No. 13 Perez Perez dropped a 1-0 decision to No. 5 Ryan Rider of Carlisle. His record fell to 26-16.
Rider got an escape in the second period for the only point of the match. Perez elected to start the final period in the neutral position, but was unable to get the takedown that he needed.
Ankeny’s Teagen Peiffer stayed alive in the consolation bracket with a fall over Jesse Egli of Fort Dodge in the final second of a match at 157. But he then dropped a 4-2 decision in overtime to Dominic Tigner of Norwalk, who had posted a 6-4 win over Peiffer in the district final.
Peiffer finished the season at 26-14. Teammates Aiden Winkie at 120, Angelo Wernau at 165 and Jack Dorfler at 285 were earlier eliminated from the tournament.
Walsh, Folkers and Perez will wrestle in the blood round on Friday, needing a win to earn a spot on the awards podium.
Here are Ankeny’s results from Thursday:
Quarterfinals
106: Ben Walsh lost to Weston Porter (C.B. Lewis Central), 3-2 (OT).
113: Isaac Wignall beat Kendall Kurtz (I.C. High), 12-6.
126: Truman Folkers lost to Ryker Graff (Waverly-Shell Rock), 2-1 (OT).
132: Perez Perez lost to Ryan Rider (Carlisle), 1-0.
144: Ben Hansen pinned Joe Hirsch (W. Dubuque), 5:00.
Consolation bracket
120: Aiden Winkie lost to Alex Hornyak (Waverly-Shell Rock), 10-2.
157: Teagen Peiffer pinned Jesse Egli (Fort Dodge), 6:00; lost to Dominic Tigner (Norwalk), 4-2 (OT).
165: Angelo Wernau was pinned by Drew Burds (W. Dubuque), 3:30.
285: Jack Dorfler was pinned by Aiden Lee (Bettendorf), 5:11.
