Dowling Catholic’s success on the football field last fall has carried over to the wrestling mat.
The second-ranked Maroons won nine of the 14 matches and defeated No. 11 Ankeny, 47-21, in a CIML Conference dual meet on Thursday at Dowling. The loss dropped the Hawks’ records to 2-3 in the league and 7-4 overall.
Dowling was coming off a double dual on Tuesday where the Maroons defeated Creighton Prep (Neb.) but lost to Don Bosco, the No. 1 team in Class 1A.
“We fought hard in a lot of matches, but Dowling is pretty good,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall. “They have some really good kids, and they’re well coached. They won some of the swing matches we were hoping to win tonight.”
Ankeny held an 18-13 lead midway through the meet. The Hawks won four consecutive matches to erase an early 13-0 deficit, capped off by eighth-ranked Ryne Dobson’s 4-2 decision over Kade Krause at 215 pounds.
“The success that Ryne has had wrestling at that weight class as a freshman, it’s incredible,” Wignall said. “He’s fast and he’s good, and he’s not getting lucky. He knows how to wrestle.”
The Maroons then reeled off five consecutive falls to seal the victory. No. 2 Brady Hagan put his team ahead for good with a pin at 285, then the top-ranked duo of Cruz Gannon at 106 and Jack Wallukait at 113 continued the run of falls before No. 4 Kayden Eller at 120 and No. 8 Josh Bergkamp at 126 finished it.
Dowling has emerged as one of the top teams in Class 3A under coach Ryak Finch, a former Grand View and Iowa State standout. Finch came from Louisiana to take over the Maroons’ program a few years ago and brought star wrestlers Evan and Jacob Frost with him.
The Frost brothers are now wrestling for the Cyclones.
“(Finch) knows what he’s doing, and he does a good job,” Wignall said.
The Hawks’ first win came at 165, where No. 2 Calvin Rathjen pinned Graham Bagby in 1 minute 42 seconds.
“Calvin looked good,” Wignall said.
No. 8 Kash Johnson followed with a 3-1 decision over Grant Touney at 175 before Ryleigh Egeberg recorded a fall at 190.
“Kash won a tight match,” Wignall said. “He’s been out (of the lineup for much of the season), so that was maybe his sixth match this year. His conditioning isn’t quite there yet, but it’s getting there. He gutted out a big win.”
Ankeny’s other victory came at 132, where Caleb Alhussaini posted a 14-7 decision.
“We didn’t wrestle too bad,” Wignall said. “We lost some matches that we shouldn’t have, but I guess that always happens.”
The Hawks will host the Bob Sharp Invitational on Saturday. They will try to defend the title that they won a year ago.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Dowling Catholic 47, Ankeny 21
144: Conn pinned Kauffman, 3:27; 150: Zachary beat Haase, 16-6; 157: Amsden beat Gatewood, 7-2; 165: Rathjen (A) pinned Bagby, 1:42; 175: Johnson (A) beat Touney, 3-1; 190: Egeberg (A) pinned Hols, 4:57; 215: Dobson (A) beat Krause, 4-2; 285: Hagan pinned Hearne, 2:34; 106: Gannon pinned Salgado, 3:52; 113: Wallukait pinned Gast, 1:22; 120: Eller pinned Bunte, :32; 126: Bergkamp pinned Perez, 2:00; 132: Alhussaini (A) beat Ogle-Ricceli, 14-7; 138: Simons won by technical fall over Winkie, 18-0.