The Ankeny Centennial wrestling team was without a trio of varsity regulars on Thursday, including a pair of state placewinners in Isaac Bruhl and Max Dhabolt.
No worries.
The Jaguars relied on their depth to post a 47-22 victory over Waukee in a CIML Conference dual meet at Timberline Middle School. They improved their records to 5-1 in the league and 10-3 overall.
“We knew we were going to be missing some guys, but the guys who filled in for them stepped up and got the job done,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “On paper, we thought it was going to be a tight one. We weren’t sure we could pull it off.”
Waukee held a 19-18 advantage midway through the meet. Centennial then took the lead for good when Nathan Grider posted a 9-3 decision over Kayden Crispin at 150 pounds.
Grider was filling in for the fourth-ranked Bruhl, who suffered a minor concussion during the Jack Mendenhall Invitational on Saturday at Ames.
The Jaguars then got a technical fall at 157 from Jackson Anonson. He was filling in for the No. 3 Dhabolt, who is still out with a minor leg injury.
“We got a lot of depth in the upper weights,” Groth said. “Grider and Anonson wrestled really well and came through for us. That was great.”
Centennial sealed the victory by winning the next three matches, beginning with a fall by Jacob Hand at 165. Ryan Smith posted an 11-5 decision at 175, then Danny Dhabolt pinned Beau Andrews in just 23 seconds to give the Jaguars an insurmountable 41-19 lead.
“We had some big wins,” Groth said. “Hand pinned the No. 2 ranked kid in the state (Wesley Anderson), and Smith beat a state placewinner (Grant Gammel).”
Centennial will compete in the Osage Duals on Saturday.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Ankeny Centennial 47, Waukee 22
106: Clifton (W) won by forfeit; 113: Pelton (W) pinned Beckwith, :30; 120: Vandermark pinned Timmons, :45; 126: McCallister (W) beat W. Sloan, 25-11; 132: Roland pinned Bechler, :50; 138: Sodergren pinned Velazco, 1:51; 144: Miller (W) beat Bland, 7-3; 150: Grider beat Crispin, 9-3; 157: Anonson won by technical fall over Long, 15-0; 165: Hand pinned Anderson, 5:01; 175: Smith beat Gammel, 11-5; 190: D. Dhabolt pinned Andrews, :23; 215: Keller pinned Velde, 1:53; 285: Hine (W) beat Bogseth, 10-1.