Lauren Watson and Jammie Krah each defended their individual titles on Saturday to lead the Ankeny girls’ wrestling team to the championship of the Ogden Invitational.
Ankeny racked up 221 points, 30.5 more than defending champion Osage. Coach Dustin Roland’s team had finished 22 points behind Osage at last year’s tournament.
“We had a really good day,” said Roland. “This was a really competitive tournament. There was something like 45 ranked wrestlers (in the field).”
Watson pinned all four of her opponents to capture the crown at 110 pounds. She won at 105 a year ago.
In the finals, Watson pinned Emery Kramer of South Central Calhoun in 1 minute 28 seconds. She raised her record to 25-6.
“Lauren made things fun, but she ultimately came out on top,” Roland said.
Krah, meanwhile, won the 145-pound title for the second straight year. After receiving a first-round bye, she pinned all three of her opponents, capped off by a fall over Jenah Gray of Dallas Center-Grimes in 2:23.
Krah improved to 31-5 on the season.
“Jammie had a great day,” Roland said.
Ankeny had four other finalists. Placing second were Nora Bockes at 115, Trudy Haag at 120, Karlie Kruse at 125 and Aliayah Shade at 170.
Bockes reached the title match before being pinned by Lily Kolbet of Osage in 3:23. Her record is now 12-3.
“Nora showed signs of her old self before dropping her finals match,” Roland said.
Haag recorded a pair of falls before losing by a 17-2 technical fall to Teagan Robertson of Ridge View. She is now 31-4.
“Trudy didn’t have the best finals match, but I think when we see that girl again in a semifinal type match (at state) it will be much closer than today,” Roland said.
Kruse had two pins and a technical fall before being pinned by Algona’s Ruby Roof in 5:13. She is now 29-6.
Kruse also lost to Roof in the finals of the Central Iowa Kickoff on Nov. 22 at Nevada.
Shade had a pair of falls before being pinned by Autumn Elsbury of South Tama in 22 seconds. Her record is now 28-7.
“Aliayah competed really well and did not take a back seat to a nationally-ranked girl in the finals,” Roland said.
Ankeny had six other placewinners. Haley Togba at 140 and Kaylie Staples at 190 each placed fifth.
“Haley competed hard, but needs to get off to a better start,” Roland said. “Kaylie wrestled as well as we could have asked in her season debut (coming back from an injury).”
Kaelynn Boston at 130, Reagan Stephenson at 155 and Aysia Moser at 235 each placed sixth. Zoe Sullivan finished seventh at 105.
“Reagan did some really good things today,” Roland said. “But we went 5-7 in the placing round, which has to be better.”
Ankeny will host a CIML Conference dual meet against Southeast Polk on Tuesday at Ankeny Centennial. It will be the team’s Senior Night.