(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
It was just a year ago when the Ankeny girls’ wrestling team saw Elyse Engebretson and Hayden Bratland enter the history books as the program’s first-ever state champions.
But with Engebretson graduated and Bratland sidelined with a season-ending injury, Ankeny was going to need someone to step up and answer the call.
Enter junior Lauren Watson and sophomore Jammie Krah.
Watson pulled off an historic upset by pinning three-time defending champion Katie Biscoglia of Raccoon River-Northwest in the first period to become the new Class 2A 110-pound champion on Friday at Xtream Arena. A little later, Krah completed a dominant run to the 145-pound crown with a 21-6 technical fall over second-seeded Lauren Luzum of Decorah.
“It feels like I’m super blessed and God is good,” Ankeny coach Dustin Roland said after coaching a pair of state champions for the second straight year.
Almost every set of eyes was glued to the mat for the start of the 2A final at 110 with the chance to witness history as Boscoglia attempted to become only the third ever four-time state champion.
And history was made, but not in the way that many expected.
Even though the matchup was a classic pairing between the top two seeds, the No. 2 Watson went into the battle as a huge underdog against a titan of Iowa girls’ wrestling in the No. 1 Biscoglia.
Despite facing one of the toughest matchups for anyone–in either Class 1A or 2A–competing for a state title in Coralville, Ankeny felt confident in the Bondurant-Farrar junior.
Watson just had to do Lauren Watson things.
“Coach Roland would tell me before every match this tournament, ‘Do Lauren Watson stuff’, and I feel like that really just locked me in,” Watson said. “I was locked in and ready to go out there.”
Because of their history of facing each other, Watson knew what to expect from her previously undefeated foe.
About 30 seconds into the match, Biscoglia had her arms around Watson’s waist, lifted her up and tried to bring her down for an early takedown.
Watson, though, locked in a tight chin whip on her way to the mat, so once they made it down, she was able to get Biscoglia onto her back.
“Whenever I wrestle (Biscoglia), it’s always a hard hand fight with the wrists and I knew that going out there,” said Watson, who placed third at 105 as a sophomore. “So just keeping strong wrists and when I got to that chin whip and got her on her back, it was just a surreal moment and hold on for dear life.”
Watson repositioned to get on top and pinned Biscoglia’s shoulders at the 43-second mark. As the referee tapped the mat, shock waves spread around the arena.
And perhaps nobody was more in disbelief than Watson herself, who was still trying to comprehend what she pulled off as she got up from the mat.
It was just Biscoglia’s second-ever loss in her illustrious career and her first against an Iowa opponent.
“It was a surreal moment, like it almost didn’t feel real,” Watson said after finishing with a 37-6 record. “I’ve been working at it for the past month like ‘I know I can get to this moment,’ but I didn’t think it would happen. But when it did, it felt awesome.”
Watson’s massive victory paid its dividends as well with Krah cheering her on ahead of her own title matchup with Luzum.
The fifth-seeded Krah had dominated her opponents all the way to the finals, which included posting an 18-2 technical fall over No. 1 Lizzy Wolf of Benton Community earlier on Friday.
But seeing Watson pull off one of the biggest victories in the history of Iowa girls’ wrestling only lit more of a fire underneath her going into the 145-pound final.
“When I saw that Lauren won her match, I was just like, ‘I’m ready, I’m ready for this,’” Krah said. “I had a lot of confidence in the way I was wrestling and the amount of work I had been putting in. Once I saw Lauren win, I was so proud of her and I just knew I could go and do this.”
Much like Krah, Luzum had dominated her way through the championship side of the bracket as she posted back-to-back technical falls in the first two rounds on Thursday before pinning No. 3 Natalie Keller of Raccoon River-Northwest in 2:24 in Friday’s semifinals.
Krah relied on her trusty blast double, and it resulted in an early 6-2 lead with a pair of takedowns.
Luzum reeled it back to 6-5 with a takedown of her own, which led her to riding out Krah for most of the second period.
But when she wasn’t able to find any back points while Krah struggled to escape, Luzum was forced to give up a free escape in an attempt to score another takedown.
As soon as Krah had an opportunity, she shot in with her blast double and it paid off with a takedown and a four-point near fall on the edge of the mat to reclaim firm control of the match.
“That’s definitely my go-to,” Krah said. “I really like my blast doubles, and I do them a lot for sure. I’ve really practiced them and over the years I feel like they’ve gotten better.”
Krah got one more takedown at the very end and with another near fall, she captured the technical fall that placed her at the top of the podium a year after she placed seventh as a freshman. She finished with a 45-5 mark.
Although Krah was among the top match point producers of the tournament off her lethal takedown, there’s not many takedowns that she’ll rank as high as the one she recorded after getting her armed raised.
Krah made sure to deliver her last blast double of the season to Roland to help celebrate her state title.
“It’s only right,” Krah said of her celebration.
Watson and Krah combined for 42 team points, which included four falls, three technical falls and one victory by decision.
Watson opened her tournament by pinning Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Mariana Angeles in 1:07 and then pinned Cedar Falls’ Isabella Stumbo in 55 seconds in the quarterfinals.
Friday’s semifinals saw her clinch a spot in the finals by outlasting Carlisle’s Alyssa Wheeler in a 10-7 decision.
Krah’s tournament started with a pin over Waverly-Shell Rock’s Collins Ryan in 1:16 before recording the first of her three technical falls by defeating Cedar Rapids Prairie’s Luisa Meade, 21-5, in the quarterfinals.
“Lauren and Jamie are solely wrestlers and they hone their craft four to five times a week all offseason,” Roland said of the duo. “I will have to beg them to take a week off because they’ll want to get right back into the room on Monday.”
And with both Watson and Krah returning next season, the Ankeny team is looking forward to seeing them be able to defend their titles in 2027.
