With three weeks left to go in the season, the Ankeny girls’ wrestling team appears to be peaking at the right time.
Tenth-ranked Ankeny advanced nine wrestlers to the finals and crowned three individual champs while defending its team title in the Bob Sharp Invitational on Friday at Ankeny. Coach Dustin Roland’s squad racked up 224 points to finish 22.5 points ahead of No. 7 Linn-Mar (Marion), while No. 6 Mason City took third in the 13-team field with 169 points.
“I’m very thankful to (Activities Director) Mike Bakker and (Assistant AD) Emma Meyer for supporting such a great event and to Ankeny grad Kirk Crittenden for setting up and running both the JV and varsity tournaments side by side,” said Roland. “It was run as efficiently as it could.”
Ankeny’s Lauren Watson at 110 pounds, Karlie Kruse at 125 and Jammie Krah at 145 each captured an individual crown. They all recorded pins in the finals.
The fifth-ranked Kruse won all four of her matches by fall in a combined 3 minutes 43 seconds. She pinned Caroline Pohlman of Linn-Mar in 50 seconds to raise her record to 34-6.
“Karlie continues to look tougher and tougher as the season goes on,” Roland said.
The No. 6 Krah also pinned her way to the title, defeating her three opponents in a combined 3:54. She pinned McKenna Dorr of Riverside (Oakland) in 1:47 to lift her mark to 35-5.
“Jammie opened up (her offense) a little and showed that she is not a one-trick pony,” Roland said.
The No. 5 Watson advanced to the final with a 12-9 decision over No. 3 Aubrey Hoveland of Mason City. She then pinned Alyssa Wheeler of Carroll in 3:08 to improve to 28-6.
Watson is now two wins shy of the 100-victory career milestone.
“Lauren had one of the best days of her career,” Roland said.
Placing second for Ankeny were Zoe Sullivan at 105, Nora Bockes at 115, No. 2 Trudy Haag at 120, Audri Headrick at 135, Haley Togba at 140 and Aysia Moser at 235.
Haag (34-5) dropped a 6-4 decision to Hannah Brandhorst of Woodward-Granger in a matchup of highly-ranked wrestlers. Brandhorst is ranked third in Class 1A.
“Trudy dropped a tough match in the finals for the second week in a row and needs to clean some things up heading into the final couple weeks of the season,” Roland said.
Togba (24-11) recorded a pair of falls before being pinned by Brandhorst’s sister, Katelyn, in 3:05. Katelyn is ranked sixth in Class 1A.
“Haley needs to work on ending matches when she has people on their backs and wrestling through situations,” Roland said. “If she can figure that out, she can beat anyone.”
Moser (35-8) also had two pins before being pinned by Atlantic’s Haley Armstrong in 35 seconds. Armstrong (32-0) is ranked second in Class 1A.
“Aysia was solid as usual and just ran into a hammer in the finals,” Roland said.
Bockes (15-4) posted an 11-6 decision in the semifinals over Class 1A No. 7 Hailey Harvey of Riverside, who lost for the first time in 26 matches this season. Bockes then dropped a 4-3 nailbiter to No. 2 Kate Seery of Linn-Mar.
Seery also defeated Bockes in the final of last year’s regional tournament.
“Nora almost got a late takedown,” Roland said. “She is back in full swing and will be a tough out at the state tournament.”
Sullivan was pinned by No. 2 Siera Becker of Indianola in 1:50. She is now 28-11 on the season.
Headrick competed for Ankeny’s junior varsity squad and reeled off three straight pins to reach the final. She was then pinned in 38 seconds by Sunshine Casey of Woodward-Granger, who is ranked fifth in Class 1A.
Headrick (11-3) led Ankeny’s JV team to a 10th-place finish with 73 points.
“She is very dangerous and has has beaten some really solid girls over the last couple weeks,” Roland said. “She will not be in our varsity lineup for the postseason because she will be dancing at nationals in Florida for the Bondurant-Farrar dance team.”
Ankeny got third-place finishes from Kaelynn Boston at 130 and Aliayah Shade at 170. Boston (25-11) pinned Grace Sharr of Woodward-Granger in 5:58 in the third-place match, while Shade (31-9) pinned Sarah Olinger of Carroll in 58 seconds.
Roland’s team will compete in the CIML Conference tournament on Tuesday at Raccoon River-Northwest. Ankeny placed second at last year’s tournament, finishing 20 points behind the eventual state champs from Raccoon River-Northwest.
