The opening day of the girls’ state wrestling tournament was a productive one for coach Dustin Roland and his Ankeny squad.
After losing its first two matches on Thursday, Ankeny rebounded to go 14-4 the rest of the way and sits in third place overall with 63 points heading into Friday.
Raccoon River-Northwest leads the Class 2A field with 80 points, followed by Cedar Falls.
“There are so many matches, so many ups and downs,” said Roland. “But every match is a new match, and you’ve just got to keep going.”
Ankeny advanced five of its nine qualifiers to Friday’s semifinals. Two other girls are still alive in the consolation bracket and will become placewinners as well.
“I’m super happy with the way our team is wrestling,” said Ankeny senior Haylee McGrew.
The top-seeded McGrew raised her record to 32-0 by recording a pair of falls at 155 pounds. She pinned No. 9 Kalen Jo Westerfield of Council Bluffs Lewis Central in 1 minute 42 seconds in the quarterfinals.
McGrew, a state runner-up a year ago, said she doesn’t feel any pressure to win a title.
“It feels good to get today out of the way and just focus on (Friday),” she said. “I’m just focusing on having fun while wrestling and not about the pressure part.”
Ankeny’s Nora Bockes at 110 and Trudy Haag at 120 also pinned their way into the semifinals. The No. 5 Bockes flattened No. 4 Avery Buhr of Valley in 5:42 to lift her mark to 19-9.
Bockes, who has been battling an injury for much of the season, also defeated Buhr in last year’s tournament.
“I’ve worked very hard to get back to where i am now, and it feels great,” said Bockes. “I have wrestled (Buhr) multiple times previously, but I have not wrestled her yet this year until today.”
The No. 6 Haag, meanwhile, pinned No. 3 Qendresa Selmani of Bettendorf in 5:14 in the quarterfinals. She improved to 39-6 on the season.
“We just want to get out here and score as many points as we possibly can,” Roland said.
No. 6 Elyse Engebretson also knocked off a higher seed to reach the semifinals at 125. She posted a 14-4 major decision over No. 3 Destiny Brown of Ridge View to raise her record to 42-5.
No. 1 Hayden Bratland is Ankeny’s other semifinalist at 140. She is now 40-1 after pinning No. 9 Damiyah Williams of Mason City in 1:49.
No. 6 Lauren Watson at 105 and No. 6 Jammie Krah at 145 are still alive in the consolation bracket and can place as high as third. Watson bounced back from a first-round loss to win a pair of matches, while Krah lost a close match in the quarterfinals and then rebounded with a fall over Clear Lake’s Alexa Heflin in a second-round consolation match.
Raccoon River-Northwest advanced four to the semifinals and has five others in contention for podium finishes. Among those advancing was two-time state champion Katie Biscoglia at 105.
But Cedar Falls, which has five semifinalists, and Ankeny are also in position to win the crown.
“We’re right up there,” Roland said. “We’ve got to have things go our way, but we just have to take care of what we can take care of and the rest will just play itself out.”
Here are Ankeny’s semifinal matchups for Friday:
110: Nora Bockes vs. No. 8 December Paw (DMPS)
120: Trudy Haag vs. No. 2 Avaeh Smith (CBLC)
125: Elyse Engebretson vs. No. 2 Camille Schult (W-SR)
140: Hayden Bratland vs. No. 4 Kerene Panya (LeMars)
155: Haylee McGrew vs. No. 13 Amaziah Twillie (Burl)
Here are Ankeny’s third-round consolation matchups:
105: Lauren Watson vs. No. 9 Poppy Malone (Boone)
145: Jammie Krah vs. No. 7 Makayla Liska (FD)
Here are Ankeny’s match-by-match results from Thursday:
100: Zoe Sullivan lost by technical fall to Cassidy McCallister (RRNW), 19-4; was pinned by Brooklyn DeRocher (LeMars), 1:41.
105: Lauren Watson lost to Marie Burns (CRP), 10-5; beat Jayva Gomez (STC), 16-10; pinned Grace Navarre (Burl), 1:44.
110: Nora Bockes pinned Eden Ferrusca (Ridge View), 1:00; pinned Avery Buhr (Valley), 5:42.
120: Trudy Haag pinned Zyla Wright (Dub. Sr.), 3:27; pinned Qendresa Selmani (Bett), 5:14.
125: Elyse Engebretson beat Chloe Adamson (L-M), 6-3; beat Destiny Brown (Ridge View), 14-4.
140: Hayden Bratland beat Lindsay Trotter (CBLC), 13-1; pinned Damiyah Williams (MC), 1:49.
145: Jammie Krah beat Halle Mosaquites (Hinton), 21-11; lost to Diana Gaie (DMPS), 7-5; pinned Alexa Heflin (Clear Lake), 1:37.
155: Haylee McGrew pinned Andrea Alcaraz (Denison-Schleswig), :31; pinned Kalen Jo Westerfield (CBLC), 1:42.
235: Kaylie Staples was pinned by Delilah Subsin (Ottumwa), :17; was pinned by Elizabeth Mills (CF), 4:00.