Saturday’s Jack Mendenhall Invitational proved to be a memorable tournament for Ankeny wrestler Calvin Rathjen.
Ankeny Centennial’s Cale Vandermark also enjoyed an historic moment.
Rathjen won the 132-pound title to lead the Hawks to a fourth-place finish in the 15-team field, while the Jaguars took sixth behind a runner-up performance at 120 from Vandermark–who earned his 100th career victory along the way.
“We wrestled pretty well as a team,” said Ankeny assistant coach Austin Anderson, who filled in for ailing head coach Jack Wignall. “We had one round where we didn’t wrestle our best, but to finish fourth place in that tournament when the three teams that finished ahead of us are really strong teams and for us to not have two weight classes even entered in the tournament, it was a pretty good day.”
Indianola captured the team title with 207.5 points, edging Bettendorf by 9.5 points. Waverly-Shell Rock was third with 160.5 points, followed by Ankeny with 151.5.
Centennial finished with 122.5 points. The Jaguars had three finalists.
“We had some good efforts,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “It was a good tournament, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
After Rathjen won by a 19-4 technical fall over Centennial’s Andrew Roland in the semifinals, the freshman then posted a 4-1 decision in overtime against TJ Koester of Bettendorf to claim the crown. Rathjen was pinned by Koester in the second round of the Dan Gable Donnybrook last month at Coralville.
“It felt great!” Rathjen said. “Getting that match back was something I planned on for the season as it went on, and it just so happened that we met in the finals. I’m super glad I capitalized on the situation and did my job for me and my team. I knew that he was just going to keep coming at me, and I had to use that to my advantage in overtime when I scored.”
Rathjen (19-2) handed the Bettendorf senior his first loss in 22 matches. Koester is a two-time state champion.
“That kid is ranked nationally, and for Calvin not only to close the gap in that match but to find a way to beat him was massive,” Anderson said. “It’s just going to be a huge confidence boost for him moving forward.”
Rathjen is the younger brother of former Ankeny star Caleb Rathjen, who won a pair of state titles in his career and is now wrestling at Iowa.
“Calvin’s already put himself on the map,” Anderson said. “We knew coming into his freshman year that he was going to be something special, not only because of Caleb’s accomplishments but Calvin has made a name for himself on the youth circuit as well. We’ve always been excited about him becoming a part of our program.
“He’s really good on his feet. When he’s moving his feet looking to set up his offense, he can wrestle with the best kids in the country and he proved that. He wrestled a smart match, too. (Koester) constantly comes at you, and we weren’t really prepared for that the first time. We had a good plan in place, and Calvin executed it perfectly,” he added.
Ankeny’s Truman Folkers also reached the finals at 126 before placing second. Folkers (18-3) lost by a 19-4 technical fall to Christian Castillo of Ames (24-0).
“Castillo is ranked No. 1 in his weight class in the country for a reason,” Anderson said. “I actually thought Truman wrestled a pretty good match. I’m glad that we got our hands on him when we did, because now maybe we can close the gap on him and maybe find a way to flip that result when the state tournament comes around.”
Centennial, meanwhile, got second-place finishes from Vandermark, Isaac Bruhl at 150 and Jacob Hand at 165. Overall, the Jaguars had 12 top-eight finishes–one more than Ankeny.
Vandermark (22-1) opened the tournament with his 55th career pin. The junior reached the 100-win milestone before dropping a 4-1 decision to Bettendorf’s Jake Knight in the finals.
Ben Monroe holds the school record with 162 career wins.
“I think Cale can get there next year,” Groth said of the record.
Vandermark has twice placed fourth at the state tournament. His ultimate goal is to win a state title, which means he may to have the avenge the loss to Knight (22-1).
“The main thing with Knight was his high attack rate and letting him control the ties,” Vandermark said. “Next time I need to focus on my offense to slow him down and make more action to give myself a chance to score. I’m looking forward to making these improvements when I see him in a couple weeks at the Ed Winger tournament.
“Earning 100 wins was just a small part of my career as I’m keeping my eyes on the prize for that state championship,” he added.
Bruhl pinned Ankeny’s Kash Johnson in the quarterfinals in another Jag-Hawk matchup. He later lost in overtime, 4-1, to Jabari Hinson of Ames in the title match.
“I feel like the match really could’ve gone either way in the end,” said Bruhl. “I realized I wasn’t getting to my offense enough and I got ridden out the whole third period, so those are two things that I need to work on. I’ll hopefully wrestle him again in a couple weeks, and I’m confident that the match could go either way.”
Hinson (25-0) defeated Bruhl (20-3) by the same score in the finals of the Keith Young Invitational last month at Cedar Falls.
“It was a good match,” Groth said. “Both Isaac and Cale got ridden for 2 minutes. It would have been a big difference-maker if either of them could have gotten out and scored, so we definitely have to work on getting out from underneath and getting to our feet and back to our offense.”
Hand beat a pair of teammates, Henry Lee and Jackson Anonson, to reach the finals. Hand (17-6) then lost by a 20-3 technical fall to Tucker Vitzthum of Ballard (18-1).
“Jacob wrestled well,” Groth said. “He’s having a really good year. He’s a fighter, and he’s physical. He’s improving all the time.”
Ankeny got a third-place finish from Andrew Haase at 215. Haase (14-6) pinned Isaiah Smith of Cedar Rapids Kennedy in 2:34 in the third-place match after dropping an 8-5 decision to eventual champion Carson Slorah of Indianola in the semifinals.
“Haase wrestled really well,” Anderson said. “The Indianola kid is unbeaten and hadn’t been taken down all year, but Andrew got the first takedown of the match. He’s made a lot of jumps since the beginning of the year, and he’s gaining a lot of confidence in himself. He had a good day.”
The Hawks got fifth-place finishes from Brady Claeys at 144, Johnson and Jack Dorfler at 285. Eddie Salgado at 106 and AJ Rouh at 157 each placed sixth, Cameron Andersen was seventh at 165, and Aiden Winkie at 138 and Jacob Schlee at 175 both finished eighth.
Roland placed fourth for the Jaguars along with teammate Ethan Sodergren at 138. Anonson finished fifth, while Ryan Smith at 175 and Danny Dhabolt at 190 both placed sixth.
Nathan Grider at 150, Charlie Sloan at 190 and Brook Keller at 215 each took seventh. Cade Bland added an eighth-place finish at 144.
“Roland and Sodergren both had tough brackets, but they wrestled pretty well,” Groth said. “Most of the extra guys that we brought did pretty well, too. They didn’t score any points for us, but they did a nice job.”
Centennial competed without Max Dhabolt at 157. The standout sophomore sat out with a minor leg injury.
“He is in a little bit of pain,” Groth said. “It’s nothing serious, but with the level of competition there it just would not have been a good idea to put him out there. It wasn’t worth it.”
Ankeny wrestled without Ben Walsh at 113 and Ryleigh Egeberg at 190. Walsh was ineligible to compete after receiving a flagrant misconduct penalty during Thursday’s controversial dual meet against Southeast Polk which saw the referee eject the entire crowd for unruly conduct.
“That was a tough one for us, because we didn’t think it was a flagrant misconduct and we probably would have finished third on Saturday with Ben in the lineup,” Anderson said. “But coming off of Thursday’s disappointing performance, I was really proud of the guys. We just want to keep growing and be at our best in February.”
Both teams will be back in action on Thursday against CIML Conference opponents. The Hawks will host Dowling Catholic, while the Jaguars will travel to Waukee to face the Warriors at Timberline Middle School.