Ankeny girls dominate Sharp Invitational, crown 3 champs among their 9 finalists

Ankeny’s Mady Postma celebrates after winning the 135-pound title in the Bob Sharp Invitational on Friday at Ankeny High School. She was one of three individual champions for Ankeny, which easily captured the team crown with 252 points. (Photo by Evan Reiter)

The Ankeny girls’ wrestlers wrapped up the team title at their own Bob Sharp Invitational on Friday well before the final match was contested.

Ankeny advanced nine girls to the finals, crowned three individual champions and racked up 252 points in the 14-team tournament at Ankeny High School. Linn-Mar was a distant second with 183.5 points.

“We had a great night overall as a program,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Roland. “Between the community/parent support to run the event and our wrestlers competing, I’m very proud to be a part of this community. Anytime we can put two teams out on the mat and come home with 19 placewinners is a great thing for the future of our program. We are excited about the growing quality of the tournament itself. I’m hoping to add a JV division and bring in a couple more varsity teams.”

Ankeny’s Mady Postma at 135 pounds, Hayden Bratland at 140 and Haylee McGrew at 155 each won an individual crown. They all recorded falls in the finals.

Ankeny’s Haylee McGrew shakes hands with Earlham’s Haley Glade after winning the 155-pound title in the Bob Sharp Invitational on Friday. She pinned Glade in 3 minutes 39 seconds in a matchup of top-ranked wrestlers. (Photo by Evan Reiter)

McGrew remained unbeaten by pinning Haley Glade of Earlham in 3 minutes 39 seconds. She is now 22-0 on the season.

McGrew pinned all three of her opponents in a combined 5:44.

“Haylee widened the gap against the top-ranked girl in 1A,” Roland said.

Bratland went 4-0 on the day, capped off by a fall over Damiyah Williams of Mason City in 1:31. She raised her record to 33-1.

“Hayden is Ms. Dependable, and we are fortunate to have her in our program,” Roland said.

Ankeny’s Mady Postma works for a fall against Ballard’s Liberty Boettger during a quarterfinal match at 135 pounds. Postma pinned Boettger in 1 minute 18 seconds and went on to record falls in all three of her matches to claim the title. (Photo by Evan Reiter)

Postma matched McGrew with three consecutive falls. She pinned Sunshine Casey of Woodward-Granger in 3:57 to improve to 27-10.

“I wrestled her previously at a DCG dual before Christmas and lost to her,” said Postma. “I learned quickly that she is aggressive in her shots, and I just tried to wrestle smarter and more like myself.”

Casey lost for just the second time in 23 matches.

“That was a big win for Mady,” Roland said. “(Casey) really took it to her last time they met.”

In the semifinals, Postma pinned Liz Makovec of Ankeny’s junior varsity team in 3:16. Makovec went on to place fourth, leading the JV squad to a 10th-place finish.

“Liz has been a great leader for our program this season,” Roland said.

Ankeny’s Elyse Engebretson controls Indianola’s Callie Chapman during a quarterfinal match at 125 pounds. Engebretson pinned Chapman in 3 minutes 13 seconds and went on to earn a runner-up finish. (Photo by Evan Reiter)

Placing second for Ankeny were Lauren Watson at 105, Nora Bockes at 110, Trudy Haag at 120, Elyse Engebretson at 125, Jammie Krah at 145 and Kaylie Staples at 235. Both Haag and Engebretson recorded three falls to reach the finals, while Watson had a pair of pins.

Engebretson lost by a 17-1 technical fall to unbeaten Molly Allen of Riverside (20-0) in the title match. She is now 33-4 on the season.

“Elyse ran into one of the best girls in the country, so we can just flush that and move on,” Roland said. “We won’t see that girl again.”

Bockes dropped an 11-3 major decision to Kate Seery of Linn-Mar. Her record fell to 13-7.

“Bockes is still trying to get to 100 percent, but she competed fairly well against a returning placewinner,” Roland said.

Ankeny’s Lauren Watson tries to turn Indianola’s Nora Ohnemus onto her back during the championship match at 105 pounds. Ohnemus eventually got a pin in 2 minutes 50 seconds to claim the title. Watson is wearing a Bondurant-Farrar singlet to represent the school that she attends. The Bluejays are expected to start their own program next year. (Photo by Evan Reiter)

Watson was pinned by Nora Ohnemus of Indianola in 2:50. Her mark dropped to 24-10.

“Watson has some has some work to do from the bottom position,” Roland said.

Haag was pinned by Ally Jelinek of Linn-Mar in 2:22. She is now 31-5 on the year.

“Haag also needs to figure a few things out when it comes to mat wrestling,” Roland said.

Krah was pinned by Lauren Rodgers of Woodward-Granger in 1:52. Her record dipped to 25-8.

“Rodgers has Jammie’s number for some reason as this was the third time this season she has beaten Jammie, so credit to her,” Roland said.

Ankeny’s Jammie Krah tries for a fall against Riverside’s McKenna Dorr during a quarterfinal match at 145 pounds. Krah won by a 19-3 technical fall and went on to earn a runner-up finish. (Photo by Evan Reiter)

Staples was pinned by Aniyah Smith of Mason City in 2:38 in a round-robin bracket. Her mark fell to 25-17.

Ankeny’s Aysia Moser (23-13) placed third at 190, Sofia Romesburg (10-9) took fourth at 170, and Audri Headrick (15-10) finished fifth at 130. Headrick recorded a fall in a consolation match over teammate Bradlynn Virchow, who went on to finish seventh.

“Audri secured her spot in the varsity lineup with the win over Virchow,” Roland said. “But we are excited about Brad’s future in our program, as well as her sister Ayden.”

Zoe Sullivan (13-9), competing for the JV squad, added a fifth-place finish at 105.

Ankeny will host the CIML Conference tournament on Tuesday at Northview Middle School.