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Jaguars dominate Centennial Duals, capture title for 7th consecutive year

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Ankeny Centennial’s Cody Vandermark tries to turn ADM’s Logan Connick onto his back during a 120-pound match at the Centennial Duals on Saturday. Vandermark went on to record a fall in 1 minute 24 seconds, helping the Jaguars to a 61-12 victory. Vandermark finished 5-0 on the day with three pins while helping Centennial to the overall crown. (Photo by Dan Holm)

The Ankeny Centennial wrestlers dominated the Centennial Duals on Saturday, easily winning the tournament for the seventh consecutive year.

The Jaguars defeated their five opponents by an average margin of 57-18. They raised their record to 9-0 on the season.

“I thought we wrestled pretty well,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “The boys came out, got physical and got up right away in a lot of their matches, and we were also able to win many of the close matches. We had a good day.”

Centennial opened the tournament with a 61-12 victory over ADM. The Jaguars then followed with wins over Clear Lake (54-19) and Park Hill South (Mo.) (51-24).

After rolling to a 66-15 triumph over Perry in the semifinals, Centennial then defeated CIML Conference rival Urbandale, 54-19, in the championship match. The Jaguars had posted a 48-21 win at Urbandale on Thursday.

Ankeny Centennial coach Jay Groth (right) watches his team in action on Saturday. The Jaguars won the tournament for the seventh straight year. (Photo by Dan Holm)

“I had an idea that we would see them again,” Groth said of the J-Hawks. “I thought we wrestled way better than we did on Thursday.”

Four Centennial wrestlers went a perfect 5-0 on the day. Maximus Dhabolt led the way, recording four falls and a technical fall at 144 pounds.

Ninth-ranked Cody Vandermark at 120 and Andrew Roland at 132 each had three pins among their five victories. No. 3 Cale Vandermark also went 5-0 at 113 and had a pair of falls.

Ethan Sodergren at 126, Jackson Anonson at 157, Danny Dhabolt at 175 and Mitchell Grider at 215/285 each went 4-1 with four falls. No. 7 Ari Ehlts also went 4-1 at 165.

Ankeny Centennial’s Ethan Sodergren works for a fall against ADM’s Landon Moorhead during a 126-pound match at Saturday’s tournament. Sodergren got the pin in 5 minutes and went on to post a 4-1 record for the day. (Photo by Dan Holm)

Ehlts won his first four matches before dropping a 14-5 major decision to No. 2 Gabe Carver of Urbandale in the final match of the day. It was a rematch of Thursday’s battle that was also won by Carver, 9-8.

However, the Jaguars had already wrapped up the victory by winning 10 of the previous 13 matches–seven of them by falls. Roland posted an 8-5 decision over Ashton Hensley to avenge a loss from Thursday, then Tyler Brennan avenged another loss by pinning Dayne Rew in 3:46 at 138.

“We were able to turn around a couple of the matches, and that was good to see,” Groth said.

Centennial competed without No. 2 Lucas Bruhl at 150. He was replaced by Kaedon Miller, who went 3-2 on the day.

“Lucas’ shoulder got dinged up a bit, but he’ll be ok,” Groth said. “We’ve still got a couple guys out, but we’ve got some depth so we’ve got good kids who can fill in.”

Centennial will host a conference dual meet against Dowling Catholic on Thursday.