The Ankeny wrestling team earned a runner-up finish in the Bean-Smith Duals on Saturday at Iowa City High.
The 11th-ranked Hawks defeated their first four opponents before dropping a 37-28 decision to No. 10 Pleasant Valley in the championship match. They are now 11-6 on the season.
“I thought overall we wrestled pretty well,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall, whose team won the tournament a year ago. “We lost some swing matches against Pleasant Valley, and that was the difference.”
Ankeny romped to a 66-9 victory over Newton in its first dual of the day. No. 4 Ben Walsh posted a 10-7 decision over No. 9 Kent Montgomery at 120 pounds to earn his 100th career win.
Walsh had suffered his first loss of the season on Thursday, when he dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 5 Joey Cahill of Waukee Northwest.
“Ben wasn’t himself on Thursday,” Wignall said. “He looked a lot better today.”
The Hawks also posted victories over Iowa City High (49-20), Cedar Rapids Kennedy (58-16) and Mount Vernon (47-28). Mount Vernon is the No. 12 team in Class 2A.
Walsh went 5-0 on the day along with teammates Noah Kauffman at 144, No. 2 Calvin Rathjen at 165 and Ryleigh Egeberg at 190. Kauffman recorded three pins and two technical falls, while Egeberg had two pins and a trio of technical falls.
“Ryleigh just looked incredible,” Wignall said. “And Noah needed to have a good day. This flu is hanging onto kids. He had it at the Mendenhall tournament two weeks ago, and I think he’s just back right now.”
Rathjen and Walsh also racked up a ton of bonus points. Rathjen had a pin and four technical falls, while Walsh had a pin and three technical falls.
“Ben is just getting on the other side of (the flu) too, and he had a pretty good day as well,” Wignall said.
Kash Johnson went 3-0 with a pair of falls at 175. He needed just 58 seconds to pin his first two foes.
After sitting out the next two meets, Johnson posted a 1-0 decision over No. 7 Marek Kelsall of Pleasant Valley.
“Kash tweaked a little something on Thursday,” Wignall said. “He wasn’t sure he could wrestle on Saturday, but he was able to gut out a close match there against a ranked kid.”
No. 10 Eddie Salgado went 4-1 in the tournament while wrestling at both 106 and 113. He had three pins and a technical fall before dropping a 7-3 decision to No. 6 Lucas Reeder of Pleasant Valley.
No. 12 Aiden Winkie went 4-1 with a pin and a technical fall at 138. Caleb Alhussaini also went 4-1 at 132 with a technical fall and two major decisions.
The Hawks will host a CIML Conference dual meet against No. 21 Waukee on Tuesday.