The road to another state title for Ankeny Centennial wrestling star Max Dhabolt won’t be an easy one.
The top-ranked Dhabolt suffered his first loss of the season on Saturday, dropping a 4-2 decision to No. 2 Jaxon Miller of Carlisle in the 175-pound final at the Ed Winger Invitational in Urbandale.
Miller, who won a Class 3A state championship at 165 a year ago, improved his record to 31-0. He has committed to wrestle for Northwestern.
Dhabolt, last year’s 157-pound champ, dropped to 8-1. The Iowa State commit has missed most of the season due to an injury.
“Max is rusty,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “I won’t make excuses for him because he wouldn’t make them for himself, but he just didn’t execute like he’s capable of and you can’t do that against a returning state champion who is as good as Jaxon Miller is.”
Dhabolt pinned his first two opponents on Saturday before posting an 11-0 major decision over No. 3 Tyde Nelsen of Dallas Center-Grimes in the semifinals. Miller, meanwhile, was just as dominant, racking up three falls on his way to the finals.
Miller scored the only takedown of the title match midway through the first period.
“He did a nice slide by, got to Max’s legs and took him down,” Groth said. “Max just didn’t pull the trigger on his shots and get the job done. If he’s going to win a state title, he’s got to have his weapons ready to go.”
Miller’s win likely means Dhabolt will have to settle for a No. 2 seed in the Class 3A field–assuming that they both qualify for next month’s state tournament.
“I would expect them to see each other in the finals at state,” Groth said. “I hope and expect that the loss will motivate Max even more, and he’ll be ready when it matters the most.”
Centennial placed eighth among 22 teams in Saturday’s tournament. The Jaguars finished with 101.5 points.
Second-ranked Dowling Catholic captured the team title with 176 points. No. 3 Bettendorf was the runner-up with 156.
“We’re still struggling to put a good performance together by the whole group at the same time,” Groth said.
Centennial got third-place finishes from No. 3 Cale Vandermark at 126 and No. 10 Ethan Sodergren at 150. No. 9 Brandon Bogseth placed fifth at 215, while Brenden Harless at 106 and Ethan Hand at 120 each finished eighth.
Vandermark dropped a 4-3 decision in the semifinals to Joseph Leick of Glenwood, who is ranked fifth in Class 2A. But he then rebounded with a pair of falls over rated foes.
In the third-place match, Vandermark pinned No. 5 Joey Cahill of Waukee Northwest in 3 minutes 45 seconds. He is now 28-5.
“Cale lost a match that he definitely should have won, but he followed it up with two good wins,” Groth said.
Sodergren dropped a 14-10 decision to No. 11 Ben Gallagher of Waukee Northwest in the quarterfinals. He battled back, though, to win his next three matches.
Sodergren (25-6) pinned Isaiah Madison of Johnston in 1:56 to earn his third-place finish. He had lost to Madison, 8-4, during Thursday’s dual meet at Johnston.
“Ethan also lost a match that he should have won, but he came back and pinned a kid that has beaten him twice,” Groth said.
Bogseth pinned No. 7 Bryce Williams of Waukee Northwest in just 33 seconds in the fifth-place match. He is now 16-8.
“Bogseth wrestled pretty well against some pretty stiff competition,” Groth said.
The Jaguars will travel to No. 1 Southeast Polk on Thursday for their final CIML Conference dual meet of the season.