The Ankeny girls’ wrestling squad has moved ahead of Cedar Falls and into second place in the Class 2A team race heading into Friday night’s final session in the state tournament at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
Raccoon River-Northwest finished the daytime session with 144.5 points and put two wrestlers in the finals, including two-time champion Katie Biscoglia at 105 pounds. Biscoglia, a junior, has pinned each of her three state tourney opponents in the first period.
But Ankeny and Cedar Falls both remain in contention with 126 and 124 points, respectively. Each of those teams has four finalists.
Ankeny’s top-seeded duo of Hayden Bratland at 140 and Haylee McGrew at 155 both advanced to the finals with pins. It was the third consecutive fall for McGrew, who was the runner-up at 155 a year ago.
Those two will be joined in the finals by No. 5 Nora Bockes at 110 and No. 6 Elyse Engebretson at 125. Bockes outlasted No. 8 December Paw of DMPS in triple overtime, while Engebretson got two third-period takedowns to rally from a 4-1 deficit for an 8-7 victory over No. 2 Camille Schult of Waverly-Shell Rock–a returning champion.
Ankeny will have three other placewinners, including No. 6 Jammie Krah, who finished seventh at 145. No. 6 Lauren Watson will wrestle for third place at 105, while No. 6 Trudy Haag will wrestle for fifth at 120 after losing in the semifinals.
Watson lost in Thursday’s opening round, but has since reeled off four straight wins. In the consolation semifinals, she overcame a 13-3 deficit by getting a reversal and a pin.
Raccoon River-Northwest’s point total got a big boost when its wrestlers won eight of 11 consolation matches in today’s action. The team will have two wrestlers going for third place tonight and four trying to get fifth.