There are plenty of reasons for optimism in the Ankeny Centennial wrestling room.
The Jaguars return five state qualifiers from one of the best teams in school history, including a pair of placewinners in Max Dhabolt and Cale Vandermark.
The other returning qualifiers are Isaac Bruhl, Andrew Roland and Ethan Sodergren.
“The practices are going well,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “Our numbers are good. We have 75 kids out. The kids are working hard, and we have started sorting out who will be at each weight. We have some good depth at most weights, but we are going to be pretty young at 106 and 113 (pounds).”
Centennial posted records of 7-1 in the CIML Conference and 21-2 overall last season. The Jaguars defeated conference rival Waukee Northwest, 38-29, to earn a fifth-place finish in the Class 3A state duals tournament.
Groth’s squad then went on to place fourth in the traditional tournament with 110.5 points. The Jaguars matched the highest finish in school history.
Dhabolt, a sophomore, is the team’s top returning wrestler. He posted a 4-3 decision over Ankeny’s Ben Hansen to place third in Class 3A at 144, earning the highest finish by a Centennial freshman since Ben Monroe placed second in 2017.
Dhabolt won titles at the Don Miller Invitational and the Ed Winger Classic before claiming a district crown and then winning four of his five matches at the state tournament. He finished with a 35-3 record.
“Max had a great offseason,” Groth said. “His runner-up finish at Fargo was impressive, and to double all-American with a seventh-place finish in Greco proves how tough and talented he is. I think he will have a great season this year, and he and Isaac are great training partners.”
Bruhl placed seventh as a sophomore at 138. He was a district champion last year at 157, then reached the quarterfinals in Class 3A before falling to eventual champion Kael Voinovich of Iowa City High.
Bruhl posted a 20-3 record. Roland, who is also a two-time qualifier, went 26-17 at 132.
Those two are among the seniors on the squad.
“We do have a great nucleus of kids,” Groth said. “Our senior class is just a great group of kids. We have 19 seniors on the team, and I think this is the biggest senior class I have ever had. They’re hard working kids, good people and a fun group.”
Vandermark, a junior, placed fourth at 113 after finishing fourth at 106 as a freshman. He posted a 2-1 decision over Mac Crosson of Indianola in the quarterfinals, but eventually dropped a 6-2 decision to Crosson in the third-place match.
Vandermark earlier won a title at the Don Miller Invitational. He went on to finish with a 36-7 record, putting him 21 wins shy of the 100-victory career mark.
Sodergren, a sophomore, posted a 33-12 mark at 126. He won a title at the district tournament, where the Jaguars crowned five champions and finished 62 points ahead of runner-up Iowa City West.
Sodergren went 3-2 at the state tournament. He dropped a 6-4 decision to Nate Fish of Linn-Mar (Marion) in the blood round, falling one win shy of becoming a placewinner.
“We have guys like Cale, Andrew, Ethan, Isaac and Max with state tournament experience, and a lot of kids hungry to be there too,” Groth said.
Despite his team’s solid numbers, Groth was hoping to have even more wrestlers competing for varsity positions.
“I am disappointed that the football team had 96 kids on their roster grades 10-12, and we only have six of those kids on the team,” he said. “There is a huge correlation between wrestling and football. More football players on our team would help us and football a lot, but we just can’t seem to get very many of those kids to come out and compete every day. Clearly lifting and competing would benefit everyone more than just lifting.”
Centennial will host Waukee Northwest in its season opener on Thursday. The Jaguars will then compete in the Keith Young Invitational on Saturday at Cedar Falls.
Groth said the goals for his squad remain the same as every year: to compete for state championships both individually and as a team.
“We will work every day toward those goals,” he said. “Our focus is to be tough, be stubborn and score points. We need to continue to get better, push each other in practice, put our opponents in distress and grow our confidence in ourselves every day.”
