After nearly winning the tournament a year ago, the Ankeny Centennial wrestlers dominated the Keith Young Invitational on Saturday at Cedar Falls.
The Jaguars advanced five wrestlers to the finals, crowned two individual champions, and cruised to the team title with 189.5 points. North Scott was a distant second in the 15-team field with 169.
“I thought overall as a team we wrestled really well,” said Groth, whose team finished 7.5 points behind Dubuque Hempstead at last year’s tournament.
Centennial was led by the duo of Cale Vandermark and Max Dhabolt. The third-ranked Vandermark pinned his way to the title at 120 pounds, while the No. 2 Dhabolt was just as dominant in winning the 157-pound crown.
Vandermark pinned all three of his opponents in a combined 4 minutes 11 seconds. In the finals, he recorded a fall over Lou Elsten of Lawrence, Kan., in 2:30.
“Cale had a great day,” Groth said.
Dhabolt, meanwhile, pinned his first two foes in a combined 4:13. He then recorded a 19-3 technical fall over No. 5 Joe Hirsch of Western Dubuque (Epworth) in the finals.
“There were five ranked guys at his weight, and Max didn’t have a close match,” Groth said. “He dominated. When he’s on, he’s hard to beat.”
Centennial had three other finalists in No. 9 Andrew Roland at 132, No. 10 Ethan Sodergren at 138 and No. 6 Isaac Bruhl at 150. They each settled for runner-up honors.
Both Roland and Bruhl lost to higher-ranked opponents. Roland dropped a 10-1 major decision to No. 5 Mitchell Murphy of Dubuque Hempstead, while Bruhl dropped a 4-1 decision to No. 4 Jabari Hinson of Ames.
Roland had two pins and a technical fall to reach the finals. He then lost the rematch against Murphy.
“I think Andrew was a little tentative after getting roughed up by (Murphy) last year, but once he gets past that I think he’s got some great opportunities ahead of him,” Groth said.
Bruhl got to the title match with a pair of falls, including one over No. 3 JahKari Clark of Valley in the semifinals with 1 second left in the match. But he was unable to pull off another upset in the finals.
“Bruhl had a very tough bracket,” Groth said. “Both (Hinson and Clark) are state runners-up, and it’s hard to get up for two big matches back-to-back this early in the season. But he’ll keep his focus and open up his offense a little more, and I think he can beat Hinson as well–or anybody for that matter.”
Sodergren also reached the finals with two falls. He was then pinned by Airic Conn of Dowling Catholic in 5:23.
Conn’s pin helped the Maroons to place third in the team standings. They finished with 156 points, a half-point ahead of Western Dubuque.
“Ethan definitely did not wrestle well in that match,” Groth said. “He went out there looking to go big right away, and he needs to settle down and get back to some fundamentals and take those big moves when they are there and not force them.”
The Jaguars got a third-place finish from Brook Keller at 215. He posted a 13-3 major decision over Carson Ferguson of North Scott in the third-place match.
Centennial’s Jackson Mandolfo placed fourth at 165. Ryan Smith at 175 and Ben Rotert at 190 each took fifth.
The Jaguars will travel to Ankeny on Thursday for a CIML Conference dual meet against the Hawks.
“I think it’s going to be a good one,” Groth said. “They’ve got some good lower weights, and we’ve got some hammers at the middle and upper weights that I think will do well. I think it’ll be a good meet between two good teams. I’m looking forward to it.”