The seventh-ranked Ankeny wrestling team got off to a great start in Thursday’s dual meet at No. 8 Waukee Northwest, building a 26-6 lead after the first six matches.
The rest of the meet, though, didn’t go nearly as well.
The Wolves won the final eight matches, two of them by fall, and rallied for a 44-26 victory. The loss dropped Ankeny’s records to 4-3 in the CIML Conference and 10-5 overall.
“I thought we had a chance to win it,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall. “I’m not blaming two kids or two matches, but we were winning at 165 (pounds) and at 215 and both of our guys ended up getting pinned. If we can get a fall in one of those and a major in the other one, we’d probably win the dual.”
The meet ended with a pair of forfeits at 106 and 113. Wignall elected not to wrestle Eddie Salgado against third-ranked Carew Christensen at 106 due to a banged-up shoulder.
“We knew going into it if we were either winning big or losing big, we weren’t going to wrestle (Salgado),” Wignall said. “We weren’t just avoiding (Christensen), but there was no reason to put him out there. We knew we were going to forfeit at 113, so there was no way for us to win.”
Ankeny’s Ben Walsh, who is ranked fourth at 113, moved up to 120 and opened the meet by pinning Grayson Manning in 1 minute 55 seconds. The Hawks’ 120-pounder, Hayden Fontana, was out with an illness.
“This is the first time all year that Ben hasn’t made weight,” Wignall said. “So that’s why we gave up a forfeit at 113.”
No. 3 Truman Folkers followed with another fall at 126. He pinned Gage Phillips in 1:27.
No. 2 Calvin Rathjen recorded a 15-0 technical fall over Bryce Culp at 132. That extended Ankeny’s lead to 17-0.
Waukee Northwest got on the board with a fall at 138 from Hayden Hutt. Hutt is ranked fifth at 132, but moved up to avoid a top-five showdown against Rathjen.
The Hawks then got a huge pin from Brady Claeys at 144. He put No. 11 Lincoln Hutt onto his back and pinned him in 1:01.
“That was a big win over a ranked kid,” Wignall said. “We did exactly what we wanted to do (in those early matches), and I really thought things were going our way.”
Ankeny’s Kash Johnson then posted a 9-6 decision over Elijah Dobbs at 150, but that turned out to be the Hawks’ final win of the night.
“From 157 up to heavyweight, we just struggled,” Wignall said. “But that is not to take anything away from Waukee–those kids battled. It’s hard to come back in a dual meet, and those kids wrestled their butts off.
“It’s just really hard to win dual meets when you lose eight matches in a row. Our guys have to figure out how to win the close matches,” he added.
Ankeny will compete in the Clyde Bean-Brad Smith Duals on Saturday at Iowa City High.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Waukee Northwest 44, Ankeny 26
120: Walsh (A) pinned Manning, 1:55; 126: Folkers (A) pinned Phillips, 1:27; 132: Rathjen (A) won by technical fall over Culp, 15-0; 138: H. Hutt pinned Winkie, 1:36; 144: Claeys (A) pinned L. Hutt, 1:01; 150: Johnson (A) beat Dobbs, 9-6; 157: Rubino beat Rouh, 17-4; 165: Bry. Williams pinned Andersen, 2:45; 175: Parker beat Schlee, 16-4; 190: Merk beat Egeberg, 6-2; 215: Bra. Williams pinned Haase, 2:37; 285: Mohr beat Dorfler, 8-2; 106: Christensen won by forfeit; 113: Cahill won by forfeit.
