The Ankeny wrestling team won four of the last five matches to post a 41-30 victory at Johnston on Thursday night.
The Hawks defeated Johnston in a dual meet for the first time since the 2022-23 season opener. They had finished nine points behind the Dragons while placing sixth on Saturday in the Frank Baltzley Invitational, which was held in the same gym.
“That was a good win. That was a team win,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall, whose squad improved to 2-1 in the CIML Conference. “We bumped some kids in the lineup here and there, but we wanted to give our team the best opportunity to win and I think we did that.”
Johnston took a 27-20 lead after Wes Weiford posted a 12-4 major decision over Jack Reysack at 175 pounds. Then, at 190, the Dragons got a pair of takedowns in the first period from Owen Gilbert, who built a 6-2 lead over Ankeny’s Ryleigh Egeberg.
However, Egeberg got a takedown in the second period to close the gap to 6-5. He then tossed Gilbert to the mat early in the final period and pinned him in 4 minutes 21 seconds.
“It seemed like he was a little more worn down in the second period,” Egeberg said. “But honestly, (the pin) was kind of lucky.”
Egeberg’s fall sparked Ankeny’s late comeback.
“That was huge for Ryleigh,” Wignall said. “He has battled and battled and lost so many matches like that that were close. For him to break through that and pancake the kid, it was awesome.”
Ankeny’s Ryne Dobson followed with a 3-1 decision over Trace Tecklenburg at 215. After giving up an escape to open the third period, Dobson got the only takedown of the match with about 40 seconds left to earn the victory.
Johnston regained a 30-29 advantage when heavyweight Jahir Gutierrez posted a 4-0 decision over Ryne Bakker, but there were still two matches to go.
“(Assistant) coach (Brian) Sharp thought we were done after 285,” Wignall said. “He did not remember that we had two more matches after that. And we won those two matches at the tournament last weekend, so we were fairly confident.”
Lucas Haase got a fall over Samuel White in 3:03 at 106 to put the Hawks ahead. Eddie Salgado then pinned Jackson Gilbert in 1:11 at 113 to seal the triumph.
“All of our guys were feeling good about (the dual),” Egeberg said. “We were confident we could come back.”
Ankeny also got a pin from fifth-ranked Ben Walsh at 126. No. 5 Aiden Winkie at 138 and No. 2 Calvin Rathjen at 165 each recorded a technical fall, while Noah Kauffman posted a major decision at 144.
Rathjen celebrated his 16th birthday with a 19-4 win over No. 12 Kinnick Thompson. That was the only matchup between rated opponents.
“It’s been a week since he wrestled,” Wignall said of Rathjen. “He’s still getting into shape, but I think he’ll have some good matches this weekend (at the Battle of Waterloo). I’m excited to see him wrestle.”
Fourth-seeded Ankeny will face No. 5 seed Waverly-Shell Rock in the opening round of the tournament on Friday.
“That’s going to be a good battle,” Wignall said.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Ankeny 41, Johnston 30
120: Johnson (J) pinned Lonsdale, 2:23; 126: Walsh (A) pinned Dyett, 2:42: 132: Beirman (J) pinned Alhussaini, 3:11; 138: Winkie (A) won by technical fall over Kirwan, 20-5; 144: Kauffman (A) beat Harris-Caldwell, 15-2; 150: Madison (J) won by technical fall over J. Haase, 16-0; 157: Casey (J) pinned Gatewood, 1:03; 165: Rathjen (A) won by technical fall over Thompson, 19-4; 175: Weiford (J) beat Reysack, 12-4; 190: Egeberg (A) pinned O. Gilbert, 4:21; 215: Dobson (A) beat Tecklenburg, 3-1; 285: Gutierrez (J) beat Bakker, 4-0; 106: L. Haase (A) pinned White, 3:03; 113: Salgado (A) pinned J. Gilbert, 1:11.
