Ankeny wrestling coach Jack Wignall wanted to test his wrestlers by competing in the Dan Gable Donnybrook on Friday and Saturday at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
The challenge was as tough as he expected.
The Hawks placed 11th in the 38-team field with 187 points. They had four top-10 finishers.
“It was a huge challenge,” said Wignall. “Our upper weights have put in some work this past summer. They’ve really improved, and they showed it at this tournament. Our kids wrestled great. It is probably the best that we have wrestled this early in the season. I’ve had better teams, but I don’t know that we’ve ever had a team that has wrestled the way we are right now.”
Second-ranked Bettendorf won the two-day tournament with 366.5 points. Staley High of Kansas City, Mo., was the runner-up with 352.
Ankeny got a third-place finish from seventh-ranked Ben Walsh at 113 pounds, while No. 2 Truman Folkers took sixth at 126. Calvin Rathjen at 132 and Ryleigh Egeberg at 190 each finished ninth.
Walsh advanced to the semifinals with a pair of technical falls sandwiched around a pin. He was then pinned by Hayden Schwab of Don Bosco in 3 minutes 1 second.
Walsh bounced back to pin Cole Caniglia of Creighton Prep (Omaha) in 4:32 in the third-place match.
“Ben was getting beat by quite a bit, but he kept wrestling and ended up getting on top and turned the kid over for the pin,” Wignall said. “That’s just how we’re wrestling right now. We’re wrestling for 6 minutes or as long as we can.”
Folkers won his first two matches before dropping a 10-2 major decision to Jason Hampton of Joliet Catholic (Ill.) in the quarterfinals. He later dropped a 5-4 decision to Demetrius Carrera of Marmion Academy (Aurora, Ill.) in the fifth-place match.
Rathjen and Egeberg both defeated wrestlers from Albert Lea, Minn., in their matches for ninth place. Rathjen posted a 10-3 decision over Ryan Collins, while Egeberg pinned Triton Cox in 5:28.
“Ryleigh is 5-1 right now and has just absolutely dominated most of his matches,” Wignall said.
The Hawks had six other placewinners, including Jacob Schlee. He pinned Mekyver Hagarty of Waverly-Shell Rock in 3:32 to place 13th at 175.
“As a team, we were third in team pins with 24,” Wignall said.
Ankeny’s AJ Rouh at 150 and Andrew Haase at 215 both placed 18th, while Eddie Salgado at 106 and Kash Johnson at 157 each finished 19th. Brady Claeys took 22nd at 144.
“We placed 50 spots higher than where they had us seeded (at the various weights), and that’s a huge differential,” Wignall said. “That just means that maybe we weren’t seeded in great places, but we also wrestled above our seeds in every aspect of the tournament. These guys are doing the right things, and they’re holding each other accountable. We really feel like this is a special team in that regard. We’re in a good spot, and it’s a good feeling.”
The Hawks will host Ankeny Centennial in a CIML Conference dual meet on Thursday. Wignall said the upper weights could play a pivotal role in the outcome.
“We know we have some pretty good lower weights,” he said. “It’s the upper weights where we needed to improve, and right now they have way exceeded my expectations. I felt like those guys would kind of make or break our season, and we are definitely seeing a lot of positive signs.”