Despite winning some of the head-to-head battles against top-ranked Raccoon River-Northwest, the No. 3 Ankeny girls’ wrestling squad couldn’t knock off the defending champions in the CIML Conference Invitational on Tuesday at Waukee Northwest.
The host team crowned six individual champs and defended its overall crown by racking up 280 points. Ankeny was the runner-up in the five-team field with 243, finishing 36 points ahead of No. 8 Southeast Polk.
“In what looks like the last year of this tournament the way it is, we competed well,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Roland. “While it is a small tournament, there were some great individual matchups.”
Second-ranked Trudy Haag defended her championship at 120 pounds for Ankeny, which also got titles from Kaelynn Boston at 130, No. 6 Jammie Krah at 145 and Aysia Moser at 235. Those four combined to pin all 10 of their opponents on Tuesday, capped off by falls over Raccoon River-Northwest foes in the finals.
Haag pinned teammate Bradlynn Virchow in the semifinals before pinning Alise Moser in 1 minute 6 seconds for the crown. She raised her record to 36-5.
“Trudy was dominant in her quest to end her last year as a conference champion,” Roland said.
Aysia Moser pinned a pair of wrestlers from Raccoon River-Northwest. In the finals, she pinned Alani Pierce in 3:14 to improve to 37-8.
“Aysia is also gaining confidence by the night,” Roland said.
Boston and Krah each had three falls on the day. Krah pinned No. 3 Natalie Keller in 4:46 for perhaps Ankeny’s biggest win of the tournament while lifting her mark to 38-5.
“Jammie is on a roll!” Roland said. “Look out.”
Boston, meanwhile, pinned Izzy Duncan in 5:04 to capture her title. She is now 28-11 on the season.
“KK had the biggest win of her career,” Roland said.
Ankeny got second-place finishes from No. 5 Karlie Kruse at 125, Haley Togba at 140 and Aliayah Shade at 170.
Kruse dropped a 4-1 decision in overtime to No. 4 Ellie Hancock of Raccoon River-Northwest. She is now 35-7.
“Karlie is right there and wrestled a great match against Hancock, but stopped wrestling for 2 seconds and that was the difference in OT,” Roland said.
Togba was pinned by No. 1 Calista Rodish of Raccoon River-Northwest in 1:13. Her record fell to 26-12.
“Haley ran into one of the best girls in the state, but went out and didn’t take a back seat to her,” Roland said.
Shade was pinned by Payton Traynor of North Metro in 3:33. She is now 33-10.
“Aliayah did everything we could have asked for against a solid opponent in the finals,” Roland said. “She put herself in a spot to win the match, but it just didn’t work out. She also defeated a girl who was ranked ahead of her in the semis.”
Zoe Sullivan at 105, Isabelle Shafer at 110 and Audri Headrick at 135 each placed third for Ankeny. Virchow took fourth along with teammates Raegan Semrow at 100, Yaretzi Gardner at 115, Leah Clark at 135, Regan Russell at 145 and Kaylie Staples at 190.
“Zoe rebounded well to finish third after a tough call in the semis against a ranked wrestler didn’t go her way,” Roland said. “Izzy beat a girl who has been in and out of the rankings this year for the first time in her career (in more than a dozen matches). This says a lot about her development in our program this season.”
Raccoon River-Northwest dominated the lower weights, winning five of the first six title matches. Southeast Polk had three champs.
Ankeny will compete again on Saturday at Colfax-Mingo.
“Most of the varsity will now rest up for regionals at Glenwood (on Jan. 30),” Roland said. “A couple varsity girls will compete this weekend and next Monday at Pleasantville.”
