The Ankeny Centennial wrestlers remained unbeaten in dual-meet competition with a 48-21 victory at Urbandale on Thursday.
The Jaguars won eight of the 14 matches and recorded seven falls. They improved their records to 2-0 in the CIML Conference and 4-0 overall.
“We wrestled well, but we’ve got to win the close matches,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “In the matches where it’s coming down to the last 30 seconds, we’re just not winning those matches right now. We’ve got to step it up and do what we need to do.”
Centennial opened the meet with three consecutive falls by third-ranked Cale Vandermark at 113 pounds, No. 9 Cody Vandermark at 120 and Ethan Sodergren at 126. Cody Vandermark needed just 1 minute 5 seconds to pin Daniel Bonilla.
“Cody continues to wrestle really well,” Groth said.
Max Dhabolt at 144 and No. 2 Lucas Bruhl at 150 later recorded two more falls to extend the Jaguars’ lead to 30-6. Bruhl pinned Jacob Hughell in 1 minute.
Centennial also got pins from Danny Dhabolt at 175 and Brook Keller at 285.
“The Dhabolt brothers both wrestled varsity and recorded pins, so that was nice,” Groth said. “I’m hoping when we’re healthy and we get Isaac Bruhl back that we’re potentially going to have three sets of brothers in the lineup.”
After Centennial’s Mitchell Grider won by forfeit at 215, Keller pinned Elias Pardon in 2:35 to give the Jaguars a 48-18 advantage.
“Keller was giving up a lot of weight–I think he weighed 193 and his opponent came in at 264,” Groth said. “But he wrestled a great, smart match and ended up turning the kid over in the second period and pinning him. He impressed me.”
The biggest highlight for Urbandale came at 165, where No. 2 Gabe Carver rallied for a 9-8 decision over No. 7 Ari Ehlts to earn his 100th career victory.
“(Ehlts) came out hot and got a 5-1 lead, but he’s got to keep wrestling and try to score the next point,” Groth said. “That’s something that Ari can learn. He knows he’s right there with one of the best kids in the state, and he’s seen six of the top 10 kids in the state in the last week so he’s had an early challenge for sure.”
The Jaguars will host the Centennial Duals on Saturday. They have won the tournament in each of the last six years.
ADM, Clear Lake, Park Hill South (Mo.) and Urbandale will also compete.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Groth said.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Centennial 48, Urbandale 21
113: Ca. Vandermark (AC) pinned Arroyo, 5:51; 120: Co. Vandermark (AC) pinned Bonilla, 1:05; 126: Sodergren (AC) pinned Twombly, 3:48; 132: Hensley (U) beat Roland, 9-6; 138: Rew (U) beat Brennan, 5-3; 144: M. Dhabolt (AC) pinned He. Bagby, 4:49; 150: L. Bruhl (AC) pinned Hughell, 1:00; 157: Hu. Bagby (U) pinned Anonson, 4:28; 165: Carver (U) beat Ehlts, 9-8; 175: D. Dhabolt (AC) pinned Miller, 4:45; 190: Tigges (U) beat Cahill, 9-3; 215: Grider (AC) won by forfeit; 285: Keller (AC) pinned Pardon, 2:35; 106: Vue (U) beat Larsen, 5-4.
