Saturday was an up-and-down day for the Ankeny wrestling team.
The Hawks placed third in a Class 3A district tournament at Marshalltown and qualified eight wrestlers for the state meet at Wells Fargo Arena, but Ankeny coach Jack Wignall was hoping for a little bit more.
“We got six kids into the finals, and I was really happy with that,” he said. “When you’re in a position like that, you always want to qualify more kids but sometimes that’s just not always in the cards.”
Fourth-ranked Indianola captured the team title with 220 points. Norwalk was the runner-up in the eight-team field with 168, while Ankeny finished with 156.5 points.
Sixth-ranked Ben Walsh at 113 pounds, No. 3 Truman Folkers at 126 and No. 6 Calvin Rathjen at 132 each won a district title for the Hawks. Folkers advanced to state for the fourth time, while Walsh earned his third trip.
“Our three hammers all did what we expected them to do,” Wignall said.
AJ Rouh qualified for state by placing second at 157. Eddie Salgado at 106, Aiden Winkie at 138, Brady Claeys at 144 and Kash Johnson at 150 also advanced with third-place finishes.
“The eight who qualified definitely earned their spot in the state tournament,” Wignall said.
Folkers captured his second straight district crown with back-to-back technical falls by the same score of 19-4, including one over No. 10 Stoney Wood of Indianola in the title match. The senior raised his record to 32-4.
Walsh, a junior, also recorded a pair of technical falls before pinning No. 5 Dylan Munson of Cedar Rapids Prairie in 42 seconds in the finals. He improved to 27-3 on the season while earning his first district title.
“Ben really wanted to go to 120 pounds late in the season,” Wignall said. “But I told him, ‘You can win it at 13.’ He needs to be able to get his weight off, but when he does, he’s a huge 13-pounder and just dominant. He took (Munson) down and was able to pin him, and that kid was not happy with that result.”
While Walsh considered a move up to 120, some other top wrestlers like Alexander Pierce of Iowa City West and Weston Porter of Council Bluffs Lewis Central dropped down from 120 and qualified for state at 113, making Walsh’s road to a state title potentially more difficult.
“I know it’s a tougher weight class now, but Ben is right in the mix with all those guys,” Wignall said. “He does have to cut a considerable amount of weight, but I still believe in him at 13.”
Rathjen, meanwhile, claimed his title with three consecutive technical falls. The freshman rolled to a 19-4 victory over Isaiah Thomsen of Indianola in the finals to lift his mark to 29-4.
Rouh (22-18) punched his ticket to state when he defeated No. 4 Jake Pontier of Indianola by injury default in the semifinals. The senior then dropped a 7-3 decision to No. 10 Dominic Tigner of Norwalk in the title match.
“We thought maybe AJ could come through the back side, but he didn’t have to,” Wignall said. “That was really exciting. The Pontier kid hurt his shoulder and went out, and I don’t like winning matches like that because he’s a real good wrestler. But that happens sometimes, and we’ve been on the other side of it.”
Winkie, a sophomore, bounced back from a first-round loss to qualify for state for the second time. After being pinned by Luke Lindaman of Waterloo West in 3:52, Winkie (18-9) won his next three matches to place third, capped off by a 13-1 major decision over Aidyn Roman of Cedar Rapids Kennedy.
“He took the long road back,” Wignall said of Winkie. “He said he felt like crap until the end of his second match, and then he started wrestling a lot better. I don’t know if the nerves got to him or what, but that happens sometimes. I think maybe he was feeling some self-pressure, but he got the job done and that’s what we wanted.”
Salgado lost in the semifinals, but then rebounded with a pair of falls. The junior pinned Nicholas Million of Marshalltown in 1:59 to raise his record to 21-18.
“Eddie has struggled and hasn’t wrestled great since the Battle of Waterloo, and I don’t know what hit him Saturday,” Wignall said. “But he wrestled fantastic and did what we knew he could do. I’m super proud of him.”
Both Claeys (22-18) and Johnson (22-16) reached the finals before losing to standouts from Indianola. Claeys lost by an 18-3 technical fall to No. 5 Ryan Young, while Johnson lost by a 19-4 technical fall to No. 6 Elijah Blewitt.
“We knew those would be tough matches,” Wignall said. “But it’s important to get your hands on those guys, and I feel like our guys closed the gap on them–even if the scores didn’t show it.”
Claeys, a senior, and Johnson, a sophomore, then lost matches for a true second place via medical forfeit.
Ankeny wrestled without senior Andrew Haase, who is ranked 12th at 215. He was unable to compete due to an illness.
“Overall, we got some kids that got through (to state), but then we had some others who didn’t rise to the occasion and didn’t qualify,” Wignall said. “But we also had some kids wrestling up a weight class. They wrestled hard, but it’s tough giving up weight.
“We just have to regroup and get ready for state. I’m excited for the guys who are going,” he added.