Ankeny Centennial’s Isaac Bruhl bounced back from a disappointing loss in a big way.
Ankeny’s Calvin Rathjen made a similar run through the consolation bracket of the Class 3A state wrestling tournament.
The fifth-seeded Bruhl rebounded from a quarterfinal loss on Thursday with four consecutive wins. He posted a 4-2 decision over No. 6 Elijah Blewitt of Indianola to place third at 150 pounds on Saturday morning at Wells Fargo Arena.
“I feel pretty good about how I ended up, even though I didn’t win a title,” said Bruhl. “I was happy with how I fought back to get to that third-place spot.”
The No. 6 Rathjen, meanwhile, battled back from a second-round loss on Wednesday to earn a fourth-place finish at 132. He reeled off five straight wins before dropping a 10-0 major decision to No. 3 Ryker Graff of Waverly-Shell Rock in the third-place match.
“I definitely learned a lot about myself in this tournament,” said Rathjen. “After going out and losing (my first match), I knew I just had to cut loose and wrestle with nothing to lose.”
Rathjen was one of four placewinners for Ankeny, which is currently tied for 10th place in Class 3A with Iowa City West with 80.5 points apiece. The Hawks also got fifth-place finishes from No. 5 Ben Walsh at 113 and No. 3 Truman Folkers at 126 and an eighth-place finish from No. 11 Kash Johnson at 150.
Centennial remains in eighth place with 97 points heading into Saturday night’s finals, where the Jaguars will have Cale Vandermark at 120 and Max Dhabolt at 157 trying to become the school’s first individual state champions. Coach Jay Groth’s squad matched Ankeny with four placewinners overall.
Bruhl recorded three consecutive technical falls by a combined 57-10 margin after dropping a 2-1 decision in overtime to Johnston’s Parker Casey on Thursday. He cruised to a 19-4 win over No. 7 Mason Lucas of Carlisle in a consolation semifinal on Saturday before edging Blewitt for third place.
Bruhl, who became a two-time placewinner, finished the season with a 30-4 record.
“My plan going into the match with Blewitt was to try and get to my attacks and keep a high pace,” Bruhl said. “The score was really close again, but I felt like I controlled the match pretty well.”
The Jaguars also got an eighth-place finish from No. 6 Ethan Sodergren at 138. He was pinned by No. 8 Nicholas Wise of Marshalltown in 1 minute 55 seconds in the seventh-place match.
Sodergren, a sophomore, ended the season at 33-10.
Rathjen advanced to the third-place match with a 2-1 decision over No. 5 Aiden Serrano of Carlisle in overtime. He avenged a 12-3 loss from a regional dual on Feb. 4.
“I didn’t wrestle my best, but I found a way to grit it out and ride him out for the win!” Rathjen said.
Rathjen, a freshman, finished with a 34-6 record.
“I got those two wins on Thursday to get to the blood round where I had a kid that I had already beat (Cale Nash of Clear Creek-Amana),” Rathjen said. “Then once I beat him I knew I was probably going to have the kid that beat me on the front side (Jashua Anglo of Johnston), and it was really nice to get that one back.”
Folkers, a senior, became a three-time placewinner. He dropped a 4-1 decision in overtime to No. 4 Malik DeBow of Linn-Mar (Marion) in a consolation semifinal, but then defeated No. 6 Kyler Simons of Dowling Catholic, 8-3, in the fifth-place match.
Folkers had recorded a technical fall over Simons in Thursday’s quarterfinals. He ended the year at 35-6.
“It was nice ending off my career with a win,” said Folkers. “It’s not what I wanted but it is what it is, and it’s time to move on to the next thing.”
Walsh lost to No. 3 Weston Porter of Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 10-6, in a consolation semifinal. The junior then won his fifth-place match against No. 6 Dylan Munson of Cedar Rapids Prairie by medical forfeit to finish the season at 30-5.
Munson had reached the semifinals when Porter was disqualified on Thursday for an illegal slam. But Munson was carted off on a stretcher and was unable to compete again.
Johnson, a sophomore, dropped a 9-3 decision to No. 12 Brady Rissman of Western Dubuque in the seventh-place match. He finished with a 26-19 mark.