The Ankeny Centennial wrestlers turned in a dominating performance on Saturday.
The fourth-ranked Jaguars easily won a Class 3A district tournament at Cedar Rapids Prairie, racking up 210 points and qualifying 11 wrestlers for this week’s state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena. Iowa City West was a distant second with 148 points.
“For the most part we wrestled pretty well,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “We responded to the situations of the day and looked good.”
Fourth-ranked Cody Vandermark won a district title at 120 pounds and earned his 100th career victory in the process. He was joined at the top of the awards podium by four of his teammates–No. 12 Ethan Sodergren at 126, No. 12 Tyler Brennan at 138, No. 2 Max Dhabolt at 144 and No. 5 Isaac Bruhl at 157.
It was the first district crown for all five Jaguars.
“We had two freshmen win titles,” Groth said, referring to Sodergren and Dhabolt. “The guys looked good. They were hungry and got after it.”
Vandermark posted a 10-6 decision over No. 12 Matthew Tran of Iowa City West in the finals. He raised his record to 32-4.
Dhabolt improved to 31-2 by recording three falls. In the finals, he pinned Braden Doyle of Iowa City West in 3 minutes 53 seconds.
Dhabolt could face Doyle in the second round of the state tournament after receiving a bye, while Vandermark also gets a bye and could face Tran in the second round.
Sodergren (30-10) pinned both of his opponents, capped off by a fall over Teagan Kendall of Cedar Rapids Prairie in 1:44. He will meet Kendall again in the opening round at state.
Both Brennan and Bruhl won their titles without having to wrestle in the finals. Bruhl lifted his mark to 19-1, while Brennan is now 23-13 on the season.
Brennan won by medical forfeit over No. 10 Nick Foreman of Cedar Rapids Washington. Bruhl won by medical forfeit over No. 7 Wyatt Vlasek of Prairie.
“I think (Foreman) was dealing with a minor injury, and (Vlasek) had some issues, too,” Groth said. “I think their coaches just decided that it wasn’t worth it for them to wrestle.”
Centennial got runner-up finishes from No. 4 Cale Vandermark at 113, Andrew Roland at 132, No. 1 Lucas Bruhl at 150, No. 6 Ari Ehlts at 165 and No. 8 Mitchell Grider at 215.
Bruhl (19-1) pinned No. 8 Casey Kelley of Prairie in the semifinals before suffering his first loss of the season, dropping a 3-2 decision to No. 4 Justin Avila of Iowa City West. Avila avenged a quarterfinal loss in last year’s state tournament and prevented Bruhl from winning a third district crown.
“We got taken down in the first period, and Avila just kind of shut down in my opinion and clamped down on every attempt that Lucas made the rest of the way,” Groth said. “I guess we can’t get taken down in the first period if that’s how he’s going to operate.”
The loss proved to be costly when the state tournament seeds were announced on Sunday. Bruhl dropped from a likely No. 1 seed to the No. 4 spot.
“It’s one of those weight classes where there are four really good kids. It’ll be a good one,” Groth said. “But I have no doubts that Lucas can still be a state champion.”
Vandermark recorded a pair of falls before dropping a 4-0 decision to No. 1 Alexander Pierce of Iowa City West. His record is now 33-5.
“Cale wrestled (Pierce) really well,” Groth said. “We made a mistake with where we put him on the mat, and we won’t do that again when we see him at the state tournament. I think we’re close. We just have to get out there and make it happen.”
Grider (25-6) dropped a 13-4 major decision to No. 3 Vincenzo Lima of Iowa City Liberty, while Ehlts (31-8) dropped a 3-0 decision to No. 7 Collin Falck of Cedar Rapids Kennedy. Roland (26-15) suffered a close 1-0 loss to to No. 9 Tyler Lee of Prairie.
Roland and Vandermark each got a fall in a wrestle-back match for a true second place. Ehlts won his wrestle-back match by medical forfeit.
Centennial’s Jack Cahill (19-21) also qualified for state with a third-place finish at 190. Cahill posted a 9-7 decision over Anthony Snodey of Cedar Rapids Jefferson in the quarterfinals, then later beat Snodey again, 10-7, in the third-place match.
Lucas Bruhl will now try to become a three-time placewinner for the Jaguars. He took sixth at 138 as a sophomore and third at 145 last year.
This will be the second straight trip to state for both Vandermarks, Isaac Bruhl, Cahill, Ehlts, Grider and Roland. Cale Vandermark placed fourth at 106 a year ago, while Bruhl was seventh at 138.
The top eight seeds at each weight receive a bye in the opening round. Here are Centennial’s seeds and the matchups for Wednesday:
113: No. 5 Cale Vandermark receives a bye; will face either No. 12 Caleb Arroyo of Urbandale (25-11) or No. 21 Jose Mendieta of Clear Creek-Amana (30-20) in the second round.
120: No. 4 Cody Vandermark receives a bye; will face either No. 13 Matthew Tran of Iowa City West (27-9) or No. 20 Stoney Wood of Indianola (23-14) in the second round.
126: No. 10 Ethan Sodergren vs. No. 23 Teagan Kendall of Cedar Rapids Prairie (19-21); No. 7 Evan Bratten of Dubuque Hempstead (37-6) awaits the winner in the second round.
132: No. 17 Andrew Roland vs. No. 16 Nick Esser of Dallas Center-Grimes (26-8); No. 1 Jayce Luna of Bettendorf (41-3) awaits the winner in the second round.
138: No. 9 Tyler Brennan vs. No. 24 Eddie Fulton of Des Moines Roosevelt (18-11); No. 8 Sevastian Soto of Carlisle (37-7) awaits the winner in the second round.
144: No. 3 Max Dhabolt receives a bye; will face either No. 14 Braden Doyle of Iowa City West (19-12) or No. 19 Rylee Brown of Fort Dodge (27-21) in the second round.
150: No. 4 Lucas Bruhl receives a bye; will face either No. 13 T.R. Putz of Pella (27-5) or No. 20 Lincoln Hutt of Waukee Northwest (22-22) in the second round.
157: No. 4 Isaac Bruhl receives a bye; will face either No. 13 Teagen Peiffer of Ankeny (24-12) or No. 20 Joseph Pestotnik of Boone (25-12) in the second round.
165: No. 9 Ari Ehlts vs. No. 24 Tanner Cournoyer of Pleasant Valley (27-20); No. 8 Drew Burds of Western Dubuque (24-4) awaits the winner in the second round.
190: No. 24 Jack Cahill vs. No. 9 Camden Feuerhelm of LeMars (40-6); No. 8 Kolby Gibbons of Johnston (16-2) awaits the winner in the second round.
215: No. 7 Mitchell Grider receives a bye; will face either No. 10 Ronan Numkena of Bettendorf (25-14) or No. 23 John Hardin of Ottumwa (26-18) in the second round.
