The holiday break is coming at a good time for the Ankeny wrestlers.
The Hawks turned in a strong performance at the Battle of Waterloo, where they defeated all three of their opponents on Saturday to win Pool 3 and place ninth overall in the 32-team field.
“It’s a privilege to wrestle in this event,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall, whose team improved to 7-2 on the season. “But with the competition and the grind that we’ve had, we need a break. It’s just been a very demanding schedule, and the guys have earned that time off by wrestling so well and so hard.”
Ankeny opened the tournament on Friday by going 2-1 in Bracket B. Its only loss came to Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, which went on to place fourth overall.
“We knew that the semifinal (match) against Clarion-Goldfield-Dows would be a tough one,” Wignall said. “If we were going to stumble anywhere, that was going to be it. But then the expectation was to not lose again the rest of the weekend, and that’s exactly what happened.”
The Hawks bounced back with a 44-29 win over Cedar Rapids Prairie on Friday, then returned to the mat the next day and posted a 42-35 victory over North Scott. They followed with a 36-30 triumph over Alburnett, avenging a 44-22 loss in last year’s tournament.
Ankeny then defeated West Delaware (Manchester), 39-23, in the match for ninth place.
“There were a couple of matches this weekend that we lost that we didn’t think we should have, but on the flip side of that there were definitely some matches that I didn’t know if we would win and we won,” Wignall said. “That’s what good teams do. They get the job done even if they lose a couple matches that they shouldn’t.”
Fifth-ranked Ben Walsh went a perfect 6-0 in the tournament at 126 pounds to remain unbeaten on the season.
“Ben is looking really, really good,” Wignall said.
No. 2 Calvin Rathjen at 165 and Eddie Salgado at 113 also went 6-0 on the weekend.
“Eddie has struggled a little bit in his mind, because there’s probably not a kid who has put more time in,” Wignall said. “And he does it all on his own. He goes to Sebolt (Wrestling Academy) and pays for it–he gets himself over there and back. And it just hasn’t translated into a lot of success up to this point.
“He lost a match he shouldn’t have in the season opener against Valley, but since then he has absolutely been on fire. He’s wrestling really well. It’s a true testament to all the work he has put in,” he added.
Ryne Dobson went 5-1 for the Hawks, who will now have a long layoff before returning to action on Jan. 8 with a CIML Conference dual meet at Southeast Polk.
The Rams won the Battle of Waterloo.
“We’ve got a few guys that are banged up a little bit, so this break is coming at the right time,” Wignall said. “Aiden Winkie has a bad ankle, Cameron Andersen had a concussion and has a bad ankle, and Kash Johnson has a bad ankle. We need to get these guys healthy and back in the lineup.”