Ankeny wrestling coach Jack Wignall was left speechless by his team’s performance on Thursday morning.
The Hawks won 12 of 14 matches on the second day of the Class 3A state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena, allowing them to catapult from 15th in the team standings into eighth place with 60.5 points. They recorded seven pins and two technical falls along the way.
“People keep texting, and I just keep (responding): ‘I’m speechless,'” Wignall said. “I don’t know what to say. You always hope for a day like that or think you can have a day like that, but for it to come to fruition is just unbelievable.”
Ankeny advanced fifth-seeded Ben Walsh at 113 pounds and No. 3 Truman Folkers at 126 into Friday’s semifinals, where they will be joined by a pair of Ankeny Centennial standouts. No. 2 Cale Vandermark at 120 and No. 1 Max Dhabolt at 157 both advanced for the Jaguars, who went 5-6 on the day and are now in 10th place with 51.5 points.
“Both of those guys started a little slow, and I’d like all of our guys to start a little quicker,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “But when you’re here at the state tournament, sometimes your nerves get the best of you.”
Defending champion Southeast Polk is running away from the field, racking up 138.5 points while advancing 10 wrestlers to the semifinals. Johnston is in second with 78 points, followed closely by Waukee Northwest (76) and Bettendorf (75).
Both of Ankeny’s semifinalists will face opponents from Southeast Polk after defeating a pair of Dowling Catholic wrestlers on Thursday. Walsh advanced with an 11-6 decision over No. 4 Jack Wallukait, while Folkers rolled to a 19-4 technical fall over No. 6 Kyler Simons.
Walsh, a junior, avenged a 9-2 loss to Wallukait on Jan. 16.
“It felt great to win,” said Walsh. “The key was to just stay focused and shut him down, and get to my attacks.”
Walsh raised his record to 29-3.
“Ben looked really good,” Wignall said. “We knew he could beat that kid. Two more weigh-ins and two more wins, and we’re where we want to be with him.”
Folkers, a senior, became a placewinner for the third time. He had lost in the quarterfinals in each of the previous three years.
“It’s awesome not having to be in the blood round (Friday) morning,” said Folkers, who is now 34-4 on the season.
Walsh will meet No. 1 Nico DeSalvo (36-0) in the semifinals. He dropped a 19-7 major decision to DeSalvo on Jan. 9.
“I know what I can do,” Walsh said. “I just have to wrestle hard, be quick, and I’ll find a way to win.”
Folkers will face No. 2 Max Riggins (39-3). He defeated Riggins for the first time ever en route to a fourth-place finish at last year’s tournament, but Riggins won a rematch, 4-2, last month.
“I just have to be on my offense and score the first takedown, I think,” Folkers said.
Vandermark, a junior, cruised to a 13-4 major decision over No. 7 Matthew Tran of Iowa City West. He improved to 40-2.
Tran lost by a similar score, 14-6, to Vandermark’s brother–Cody–in the opening round of last year’s tournament.
“I was confident going into the match, trusting myself and my wrestling that got me there,” said Vandermark. “My brother didn’t really give me much advice (other than) to go out there and wrestle tough.”
Dhabolt, a sophomore, also advanced with a major decision. He lifted his mark to 31-1 with a 17-6 victory over No. 8 Dominic Tigner of Norwalk.
Dhabolt dominated the match after giving up an early takedown, the first one he’s allowed all season.
“It feels good (to win), but I did not perform how I wanted to,” said Dhabolt. “That pissed me off when he got the takedown.”
Groth said he felt like Dhabolt may have been looking ahead.
“He was looking past this kid, and you can’t look past anybody here,” Groth said. “Especially when you’re the No. 1 seed, you’ve got a target on your back. He’s got to wrestle his next match and not worry about who he might wrestle in the finals, because if you don’t beat the kid in the semifinals you won’t even be in the finals.”
Dhabolt will face No. 4 Jake Pontier of Indianola (37-5) on Friday. While being interviewed, Dhabolt was unaware that Pontier had advanced with a 5-4 decision over No. 5 Joe Hirsch of Western Dubuque.
“It doesn’t really matter who I wrestle,” Dhabolt said.
Vandermark will meet No. 3 Kendall Kurtz of Iowa City High (38-5).
“If we want to be in the finals, we have to open up in the semis,” Groth said. “That goes for both of our guys.”
Centennial will have three other wrestlers competing in the blood round. No. 9 Andrew Roland won a pair of consolation matches Thursday at 126, while No. 6 Ethan Sodergren at 138 and No. 5 Isaac Bruhl at 150 both lost in the quarterfinals.
Bruhl (26-4), a senior, dropped a 2-1 decision in overtime to No. 4 Parker Casey of Johnston. Casey got an escape in overtime to take the lead, then rode Bruhl out to secure the win.
“That was a tough one,” Groth said. “It was a great match. Two good kids battling it out, and it just didn’t go our way.”
Sodergren, meanwhile, was trailing No. 3 Wil Oberbroeckling of Southeast Polk when he lost by injury default midway through the third period. The sophomore will take a 32-8 mark into Friday’s session.
“Ethan, Isaac and Andrew just have to let it fly (in the consolation matches),” Groth said.
Ankeny, meanwhile, could have as many as six placewinners. No. 24 Eddie Salgado at 106, No. 6 Calvin Rathjen at 132, No. 11 Kash Johnson at 150 and No. 21 AJ Rouh at 157 each won twice on Thursday to stay alive.
Johnson recorded a pair of pins, while Salgado, Rathjen and Rouh each had one. Aiden Winkie at 138 and Brady Claeys at 144 also notched falls in the second round of consolation matches before being eliminated.
After rallying to post a 12-11 decision over No. 10 Lucas Reeder of Pleasant Valley, Salgado fell behind, 11-1, against No. 18 Brayden Tranmer of Council Bluffs Lincoln in a third-round consolation match. But the junior then pinned Tranmer in 5 minutes 9 seconds to improve to 23-19.
“I just knew I had to wrestle hard and stay in good position, and I knew I could beat the kid if I just wrestled hard for all 6 minutes,” said Salgado.
Salgado’s pin was followed shortly thereafter by the Hawks’ two quarterfinal wins and three more falls in the consolation matches.
“I think Eddie getting that pin when he was down was the catalyst for the rest of the day,” Wignall said. “It was incredible. He just wrestled lights out. He hasn’t wrestled that good hardly the whole year.”
Salgado will have to pull off another upset to become a placewinner. He will meet No. 3 Carew Christensen of Waukee Northwest (39-3) in the blood round.
“I just had to have the right mindset coming down here,” Salgado said. “I had to get to my shots and work hard, and I knew I could place.”
Here are Ankeny’s match-by-match results from Thursday:
2nd Round Consolation
106: Eddie Salgado beat Lucas Reeder (Pleasant Valley), 12-11.
132: Calvin Rathjen won by technical fall over Brock Hessenius (LeMars), 16-1.
138: Aiden Winkie pinned Donovan Gipson (Iowa City High), 3:21.
144: Brady Claeys pinned Aidan Ehlinger (Linn-Mar), 2:24.
150: Kash Johnson pinned Aaron Butikofer (C.R. Washington), 1:53.
157: AJ Rouh beat Rylee Brown (Fort Dodge), 19-15.
Quarterfinals
113: Ben Walsh beat Jack Wallukait (Dowling Catholic), 11-6.
126: Truman Folkers won by technical fall over Kyler Simons (Dowling Catholic), 19-4.
3rd Round Consolation
106: Eddie Salgado pinned Brayden Tranmer (C.B. Lincoln), 5:09.
132: Calvin Rathjen pinned Kash Kiner (Valley), 1:04.
138: Aiden Winkie was pinned by Will McDermott (North Scott), 3:33.
144: Brady Claeys was pinned by Lincoln Hutt (Waukee Northwest), 3:50.
150: Kash Johnson pinned Cole Hemmingsen (DC-G), :31.
157: AJ Rouh pinned Owen Gilbert (Johnston), 3:20.
Here are Centennial’s match-by-match results from Thursday:
2nd Round Consolation
126: Andrew Roland pinned Brayden Sundby (Pella), :53.
165: Jacob Hand lost to Aidan Schrock (Clear Creek-Amana), 7-4.
175: Ryan Smith lost to David Theisen (W. Dubuque), 13-3.
190: Danny Dhabolt pinned Blaine Heick (Iowa City High), 1:28.
285: Charlie Sloan lost to Cary Cox (Pleasant Valley), 13-1.
Quarterfinals
120: Cale Vandermark beat Matthew Tran (Iowa City West), 13-4.
138: Ethan Sodergren lost to Wil Oberbroeckling (Southeast Polk), injury time (5:02).
150: Isaac Bruhl lost to Parker Casey (Johnston), 2-1 (OT).
157: Max Dhabolt beat Dominic Tigner (Norwalk), 17-6.
3rd Round Consolation
126: Andrew Roland beat Danny Cleveland (S.C. East), 9-4.
190: Danny Dhabolt lost to Zander Wedemeier (Waverly-Shell Rock), 10-4.
