A win on the road Thursday likely would have helped the Ankeny Centennial wrestlers move into the final Class 3A dual rankings from the Iowa High School Athletic Association, which is what the Jaguars need in order to qualify for the regional duals.
It didn’t happen, though, and now Centennial will have to wait for the release of the final rankings on Tuesday, which is also when the regional dual pairings will be announced.
The Jaguars dropped a 44-28 decision at 18th-ranked Johnston in a CIML Conference meet. The loss dropped their records to 1-6 in the league and 6-12 overall.
Centennial had posted a 41-36 win over No. 21 Waukee on Jan. 15. Perhaps that victory will be enough to get the Jaguars into the final rankings.
On Thursday, Johnston won nine of the 14 matches. The Dragons recorded five pins, one technical fall and a major decision.
Second-ranked Parker Casey had one of Johnston’s falls at 157 pounds. No. 12 Ike Beirman won by a technical fall at 132, while No. 11 Kinnick Thompson posted a major decision at 165.
Centennial got falls from Cameron Moeckly at 113, No. 1 Max Dhabolt at 175 and No. 9 Brandon Bogseth at 215. Bogseth had the fastest pin of the night–he needed just 1 minute 1 second to get the fall over Jack Kelly.
No. 3 Cale Vandermark won by a technical fall at 126. Ethan Hand also recorded a technical fall at 120.
The Jaguars will compete in the Ed Winger Invitational on Saturday at Urbandale. Dhabolt will be seeking his third straight title at the tournament.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Johnston 44, Ankeny Centennial 28
106: White beat Harless, 12-10; 113: Moeckly (AC) pinned Gilbert, 3:30; 120: Hand (AC) won by technical fall over Prevett, 18-2; 126: Vandermark (AC) won by technical fall over Dyett, 20-5; 132: Beirman won by technical fall over Sloan, 22-6; 138: Huebbe pinned Babcock, 3:26; 144: Kirwan pinned James, 2:18; 150: Madison beat Sodergren, 8-4; 157: Casey pinned Landis, 1:19; 165: Thompson beat Rotert, 10-0; 175: Dhabolt (AC) pinned Weiford, 1:11; 190: M. Kelly pinned Cole, 2:59; 215: Bogseth (AC) pinned J. Kelly, 1:01; 285: Gutierrez pinned Winkel, 1:27.