(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
It’s not every day that the third-ranked team in Class 2A girls’ wrestling can view itself as an underdog going into a triangular.
But Tuesday night was the exception for the Ankeny girls’ wrestling squad at Northview Middle School.
Under one roof, Ankeny hosted and was defeated in two close duals by the only two teams ranked ahead of it in the Class 2A rankings in No. 1 Cedar Falls (36-33) and No. 2 Raccoon River-Northwest (37-33).
“I was not expecting three duals that competitive,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Roland, whose team is now 13-3 overall. “Kudos to everybody, but hat’s off to our girls that were the underdogs all night and came ready to compete and battle. I could not be more proud of the effort our girls put out there tonight.”
It was one of the most loaded duals in the short history of girls’ wrestling being a sanctioned sport in Iowa with all three teams getting national recognition on top of being Class 2A’s top three teams.
Per FloWrestling’s national girls’ rankings, Cedar Falls was ranked 10th in the country, Raccoon River was No. 17 nationally and Ankeny was an Honorable Mention for being just outside the top 50.
Ankeny found itself coming up just short of pulling off two massive victories in one of the best measuring stick duals to be had in early January.
“If you look at those duals, there were no duals where we were winning and got pinned and no duals where we got pinned in a competitive match,” Roland said. “We did as much as we probably could’ve out of our girls at this point of the season. We’re going to ask for more, and we’re going to have to ask more, come February.”
In both duals, Ankeny fell into a big hole early and needed a big response from some of its top-ranked wrestlers to close out the duals. It got some big wins, but not quite big enough to emerge with a team victory.
Cedar Falls got the upper hand on Ankeny early with No. 5 Anna Johnson pinning Sofia Romesburg at 170 pounds and No. 2 Briar Ludeman posting a 5-2 decision over Aysia Moser at 190.
Kayle Staples at 235 and Lauren Watson at 105 came out on top with two big victories for Ankeny.
Staples, a freshman, upset No. 11 Ellie Mills in a 3-0 decision behind a second-period takedown. The No. 5 Watson defended her ranking with a 12-0 major decision over No. 6 Chloe Utsler.
But with a pair of No. 2-ranked wrestlers in Natalie Blake (100) and Lauren Whitt (115) getting forfeit victories, along with a fall from Annabelle Rohret at 110 and No. 1 Apryl Halsor pinning No. 5 Trudy Haag at 120, Cedar Falls took a commanding 33-7 lead over Ankeny.
Just when things were looking down, Ankeny fired back with four bonus-point victories in the final six matches.
“Both of those duals, we definitely blew what I had on the paper out of the water,” Roland said. “You can’t walk out ecstatic about two losses, but I’m going to walk out ecstatic focusing on the positives, which was the way our girls battled, wrestled smart and just competed.”
Elyse Engebretson, ranked fourth at 125, got back in the lineup and won by a fall in 1 minute 35 seconds over Lana Schafer. But with a 6-3 decision for Cedar Falls’ No. 8 Jobie Conway at 130, Ankeny needed four pins in the final four matches to knock off the Tigers.
No. 12 Mady Postma gutted out a 7-6 decision at 135 over Destiny Hoeppner, who is ranked 11th at 140. But that clinched the dual for Cedar Falls despite it being a big individual win for the Ankeny Centennial sophomore.
Jammie Krah made a big statement for Ankeny at 145. The No. 9 Krah used a pair of takedowns and near falls for a 14-1 lead in the first period before closing out a 22-5 technical fall over No. 3 Macie Graves.
No. 2 Hayden Bratland at 140 and No. 1 Haylee McGrew at 155 looked as dominant as always with the duo notching falls in the first period in two of the final matches of the dual.
“We saw Cedar Falls last year, and they beat us by 30 points or something like that,” Roland said. “We lost to them by three, and they’re even better this year. Getting the opportunity to see that team, and I still think they’re the team to beat, was good for us.”
Raccoon River, which posted a 38-33 victory over Cedar Falls, carried a ton of momentum into the dual with Ankeny and it showed right away.
Falls from No. 4 Reese Baxter at 235 and No. 9 Quincy Cooper at 110, a 14-3 major decision for No. 1 Kate Biscoglia over Watson at 105, and a forfeit victory for No. 5 Cassidy McCallister at 100 put Ankeny down 22-0 out of the gates.
Nora Bockes, ranked fifth at 115, made a brief return to the Ankeny lineup for the Raccoon River dual and won by a fall over Elizabeth Ehlen to put her team on the board. Roland is still looking to get Bockes back to full strength after missing the last couple duals.
“It was awesome to have Nora back on the mat, that’ll be huge moving forward,” Roland said. “She wasn’t 100 percent and she’s not 100 percent, but she’s going to get there and this was a good stepping stone for her.”
Haag and Engebretson tried to cut into Raccoon River’s lead. Haag posted an 8-2 decision over No. 8 Izzy Duncan, and Engebretson followed with a fall over Addison McGinness.
But Raccoon River put Ankeny in a similar spot to close the dual with pins from No. 2 Calista Rodish at 135 and No. 7 Edie Collins at 140, along with a 9-2 decision by Ellie Hancock over Audri Headrick at 130, pushing the lead to 37-15 with four matches left.
Just like the Cedar Falls dual, Ankeny responded, but just not with enough team points to steal the dual.
Bratland’s outstanding season continued when she pinned Naomi Templeman–who ranks just behind Bratland at No. 3–in the second period. Needing three more consecutive pins, a 10-6 decision for Krah was what ultimately put the dual out of reach despite the 2-0 day for the freshman.
Ankeny closed out the dual with McGrew recording her second pin of the day by sticking Grace Rinehart in just under a minute and Moser rebounding from her earlier loss with a 7-2 decision over Kadyn Tierney.
“We lost two duals, and that’s the bottom line,” Roland said. “But we’re walking away super proud and excited about the potential moving forward after what we showed tonight. I couldn’t be happier.”
Ankeny will compete in the Ogden Invitational on Saturday.
Here are the match-by-match results from Tuesday’s meet:
Cedar Falls 36, Ankeny 33
170: Johnson (CF) pinned Romesburg, 2:59; 190: Ludeman (CF) beat Moser, 5-2; 235: Staples (A) beat Mills, 3-0; 100: Blake (CF) won by forfeit; 105: Watson (A) beat Utsler, 12-0; 110: Rohret (CF) pinned Z. Sullivan, 1:29; 115: Whitt (CF) won by forfeit; 120: Halsor (CF) pinned Haag, :46; 125: Engebretson (A) pinned Schafer, 1:35; 130: Conway (CF) beat Headrick, 6-3; 135: Postma (A) beat Hoeppner, 7-6; 140: Bratland (A) pinned Gorby, 1:22; 145: Krah (A) won by technical fall over Graves, 22-5; 155: McGrew (A) pinned Schwartz, :54.
Raccoon River-Northwest 37, Ankeny 33
235: Baxter (RR-N) pinned Staples, :36; 100: McCallister (RR-N) won by forfeit; 105: Biscoglia (RR-N) beat Watson, 14-3; 110: Cooper (RR-N) pinned Z. Sullivan, 1:15; 115: Bockes (A) pinned Ehlen, 4:39; 120: Haag (A) beat Duncan, 8-2; 125: Engebretson (A) pinned McGinness, 4:47; 130: Hancock (RR-N) beat Headrick, 9-2; 135: Rodish (RR-N) pinned Makovec, 1:58; 140: Collins (RR-N) pinned Postma, :58; 145: Bratland (A) pinned Templeman, 2:48; 155: Krah (A) beat Bruins, 10-6; 170: McGrew (A) pinned Rinehart, :58; 190: Moser (A) beat Tierney, 7-2.