A dual meet between the top two girls’ wrestling teams in Class 2A came down to the final match on Thursday at Waukee Northwest.
Top-ranked Raccoon River-Northwest got a fall at 100 pounds from Mya Van Beek to post a 40-35 victory over No. 2 Ankeny. Van Beek pinned Raegan Semrow in 1 minute 51 seconds to seal the verdict, but the loss didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Ankeny coach Dustin Roland.
“Our girls had a great time competing in a great event for girls’ wrestling,” said Roland. “The majority of them went out and competed as well as we could have asked.”
The hosts jumped out to a 20-0 lead after the first four matches and later got a technical fall from Bella Bruins at 155 to make it 34-17.
However, Ankeny then reeled off three consecutive falls to take its only lead of the night. Aliayah Shade at 170, Jocelyn Rohde at 190 and Aysia Moser at 235 each recorded a pin to give Roland’s team a 35-34 advantage heading into the final match.
“Jocelyn had a huge win at a turning point in the match,” Roland said. “It was great to see that for her.”
Ankeny also got pins from Haley Togba at 135 and Jammie Krah at 145. Togba pinned Izzy Duncan in 3:54.
“Haley probably had the biggest win of the night,” Roland said. “She is a dangerous wrestler who can score from anywhere.”
Trudy Haag won by a technical fall at 125. She is expected to eventually drop to 120.
“Trudy is working her way down, and she is going to be a force at that weight,” Roland said.
The closest match of the night came at 130, where Karlie Kruse dropped a 4-1 decision to Ellie Hancock of Raccoon River-Northwest.
“Karlie lost a tough match to a tough girl, but that is a match that can be turned around by finding one score,” Roland said.
The loss dropped Ankeny’s records to 2-1 in the CIML Conference and 4-2 overall.
After the meet, Roland and his wrestlers hung around to watch a collegiate matchup between Iowa and Grand View.
“We were fortunate enough to watch a pretty competitive dual,” he said. “We are very thankful to Raccoon River-Northwest for putting on such a great event for women’s wrestling.”
Ankeny will host the Ankeny Centennial Duals on Saturday at Northview Middle School, beginning at 9 a.m. West Marshall, Mason City, Indianola, Des Moines Public Schools and Pella will also compete.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Raccoon River-Northwest 40, Ankeny 35
105: McCallister (RR-NW) won by technical fall over Sullivan, 19-3; 110: Biscoglia (RR-NW) beat Watson, 10-1; 115: Cooper (RR-NW) pinned Shafer, :19; 120: McGinness (RR-NW) won by technical fall over Virchow, 22-2; 125: Haag (A) won by technical fall over Templeman, 17-2; 130: Hancock (RR-NW) beat Kruse, 4-1; 135: Togba (A) pinned Duncan, 3:54; 140: Keller (RR-NW) pinned Buban, :34; 145: Krah (A) pinned Johnson, 1:21; 155: Bruins (RR-NW) won by technical fall over Stephenson, 17-2; 170: Shade (A) pinned Tierney, 1:12; 190: Rohde (A) pinned Slaughter, 2:32; 235: Moser (A) pinned Pierce, :39; 100: Van Beek (RR-NW) pinned Semrow, 1:51.