The Ankeny wrestling team went 4-2 and placed sixth overall among 32 squads in the Battle of Waterloo on Friday and Saturday at Young Arena.
The sixth-ranked Hawks are now 7-2 on the season heading into the holiday break.
“We wrestled really well,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall. “The kids fought for every point that they could get all weekend.”
After going 2-1 in Bracket B on Friday, Ankeny advanced to the Silver Pool on Saturday to battle three other teams for fifth place. The Hawks opened the day with a 49-27 victory over No. 2 Bettendorf, which was without two of its 10 ranked wrestlers.
The Hawks won two of the three matchups between ranked wrestlers. Fifth-ranked Ben Walsh rolled to a 20-7 major decision over No. 7 Landon Gottschalk at 113, and No. 2 Truman Folkers pinned No. 9 Garrett Evans in 1 minute 40 seconds at 126.
In another matchup of rated wrestlers, No. 1 Cody Trevino of Bettendorf posted a 4-0 decision over Calvin Rathjen at 138. Rathjen is ranked eighth at 132.
Ankeny won nine of the 14 matches overall, including an upset by Eddie Salgado at 106. He posted a 9-8 decision over No. 10 Hudson Fleming.
“Being able to beat Bettendorf like that, I told the kids that was a statement win for our program,” Wignall said. “I’m not sure if we’ve ever beaten Bettendorf. To do it at the Battle of Waterloo and the way that we did it, it was pretty convincing. It’s a good step for our program.”
The Hawks followed with a 54-25 win over Clarion-Goldfield Dows, the No. 14 team in Class 2A. All nine of the team’s victories came by fall, including one by Andrew Haase at 215 in just 14 seconds.
Then, in the matchup for fifth place, Ankeny dropped a 45-29 decision to No. 3 Indianola. It was a rematch of last year’s final in the regional duals at Indianola, which was also won by the Indians, 45-15.
Folkers again won a battle of rated wrestlers. He pinned No. 12 Stoney Wood in 3:03 to earn his 100th career victory.
Ankeny also got a fall from No. 6 Jack Dorfler at 285, but it wasn’t nearly enough against a loaded Indianola lineup that won eight straight matches from 138 to 215. The Indians had four pins and two technical falls during that stretch.
On Friday, Ankeny opened the tournament with a 68-11 victory over New Hampton/Turkey Valley. The Hawks then defeated Independence, 53-11, to advance to the championship of Bracket B.
However, Ankeny then suffered a 44-22 loss to Alburnett–the No. 2 team in Class 1A.
“We knew Friday’s pool would be a good one for us, but we also knew Alburnett was going to be really good–regardless of what class they are in,” Wignall said. “That was a good, challenging dual for us, and they definitely got the best of us.”
Folkers went 6-0 over the two days with three falls and two technical falls. He also posted a 6-4 decision over Alburnett’s Rowdy Neighbor, who is ranked second in Class 1A.
“Truman had a great weekend, and so did Ben,” Wignall said.
Walsh went 6-0 with a fall, a technical fall and two major decisions. Dorfler went 5-0 with four falls, while Cameron Andersen went 4-0 with four pins at 165.
“Cam was like 0-4 going into the tournament and had four pins a total of 2 minutes 47 seconds,” Wignall said. “One of them was against the No. 6 kid in 2A from Independence (Christopher Meyer).”
Rathjen went 5-1 with a pin and three technical falls, while Salgado went 5-1 with two falls. Haase went 4-2 with four pins.
The Hawks will return to action on Jan. 2 by hosting a CIML Conference dual meet against No. 5 Johnston.
