The Dan Gable Donnybrook proved to be a valuable experience for the Ankeny girls’ wrestling team.
Third-ranked Ankeny placed third among 44 teams in the tournament on Thursday and Friday at Xtream Arena in Coralville, finishing with 277 points. Coach Dustin Roland’s team had six top-10 finishers.
“We had a great couple of days competing with some high-level girls across the Midwest,” said Roland. “Our third-place finish was our highest to date so we are very proud of that. We are still trying to get our full lineup on the mat. This tournament had a number of operating and technical errors throughout, and our girls just rolled with the punches and just kept competing. We talk about controlling what we can control, and we did just that over the last two days.”
No. 2 Raccoon River Northwest easily captured the team title with 344.5 points. Defending champion Decorah took second with 287.5.
Ankeny got third-place finishes from eighth-ranked Elyse Engebretson at 125 pounds and No. 1 Hayden Bratland at 140. No. 4 Nora Bockes placed sixth at 115, No. 7 Jammie Krah took seventh at 145, No. 5 Trudy Haag was ninth at 120, and No. 4 Lauren Watson finished 10th at 105.
Bratland pinned No. 3 Edie Collins of Raccoon River Northwest in 1 minute 17 seconds in the quarterfinals. She then suffered her first loss of the season in the semifinals, where she dropped a 9-4 decision to Chloe Sanders of Vinton-Shellsburg–who is ranked No. 1 in Class 1A at 145.
“Hayden lost to the No. 11 girl in the country in a match that somewhat got away from her when she was in the driver’s seat,” Roland said.
Bratland (12-1) bounced back with a fall over No. 8 Damiyah Williams of Mason City in a consolation semifinal. She followed with an 8-0 major decision in the third-place match over McKenzie Tollefson of Decorah, who is No. 3 in Class 1A.
Engebretson (12-2) recorded three consecutive falls in a combined 3:02 before falling in the semifinals to No. 1 Camille Schult of Waverly-Shell Rock, who notched a pin in 5:18. She then rebounded to win her next two matches, capped off by a fall over Carleigh Arjes of Mason City in 37 seconds in the third-place match.
“Elyse is wrestling very solid and gave the defending state champ all she could handle,” Roland said.
Bockes (8-5) was pinned in the quarterfinals by Ellise Weets of Vinton-Shellsburg, who is No. 5 in Class 1A. She then got two pins of her own in the consolation bracket before eventually dropping an 11-2 major decision in a rematch against Weets in the fifth-place match.
Krah (10-4) lost in the second round, but then recorded three straight falls to become a placewinner. She later got another pin in the seventh-place match, where she flattened Dyani Torres of Maple Park Kaneland in 4:37.
Haag (10-2) pinned Ellie Adams of Decorah in 2:13 in the ninth-place match. Watson (7-5) also competed in the ninth-place match at her weight, where she was pinned by No. 5 Akemah McClendon of Clinton in 1:55.
“This is a great tournament to not only see some top competition but also build some good team camaraderie,” Roland said. “Ari Clinton is going to be a big piece of our program over the next few years. Madi Postma defeated two ranked wrestlers and put herself on the map, and Kaylee Staples is getting a lot out of herself and has a bright future.”
Ankeny will face Valley in its CIML Conference opener on Tuesday at Urbandale.