Ankeny Centennial junior Max Dhabolt is one win away from capturing a second consecutive state wrestling title.
Sophomore Calvin Rathjen of Ankeny has a chance to claim his first crown.
Both standouts advanced to Saturday’s championship matches with dominant performances on Friday night in the Class 3A semifinals at the Casey’s Center. The second-seeded Dhabolt racked up five takedowns and a four-point near-fall to record a 19-4 technical fall over No. 3 Landon Bell of Iowa City Liberty at 175 pounds.
“I saw he left his right arm up a lot, so I just did the exact same thing every single time and just threw him by every single time,” said Dhabolt, who raised his record to 16-1. “I’ve been pushing the pace and all that, and I’ve felt really good my last couple matches.”
Dhabolt has won all three of his matches at the tournament by technical fall. He has outscored his three opponents by a combined margin of 56-9.
“It’s great,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “He dominated again and that’s awesome, and I couldn’t be happier for Max. He’s a different wrestler than he was when we wrestled at the Ed Winger so I’m looking forward to this rematch. It should be fun.”
Dhabolt will meet No. 1 Jaxon Miller of Carlisle (43-0) for the title in a matchup of defending champions. Miller posted a 4-2 decision in their previous meeting on Jan. 24 at the Winger Classic.
“I’m definitely ready for this,” Dhabolt said.
The No. 3 Rathjen, meanwhile, cruised to a 13-3 major decision over No. 10 Rylee Brown of Fort Dodge at 165. He got a takedown in each of the first two periods to build a 7-0 lead, then sealed the win with two more takedowns in the final period.
“It feels great,” said Rathjen, who improved to 27-2. “I’ve been working hard, so it’s been good.”
Like Dhabolt, Rathjen has posted three straight bonus-point victories. He opened the tournament with a fall before notching back-to-back major decisions.
“That was a good match for him,” said Ankeny coach Jack Wignall. “That’s as good as he’s looked all week. He’s rolling, and he’s doing what he needs to do.”
Rathjen will face No. 1 Mac Crosson of Indianola (34-0) for the crown. Crosson beat Rathjen, 4-1, in the finals of the Bob Sharp Invitational on Jan. 17.
“We’ve trained at Sebolt together for probably the last seven years,” Rathjen said. “We both know each other really well. I’ve just got to get to my leg attacks and finish quick, because he’s got really good hips. And I have to try not to let him wear on me because he’s a really good hand fighter. He stays heavy on the head.”
Rathjen will try to follow in the footsteps of his brother Caleb, who won back-to-back state titles at Ankeny in 2019-20 and is now wrestling for Northern Iowa.
“It’d be fun to win one too,” Rathjen said. “I guess it’d be cool.”
Ankeny is currently in 13th place with 64.5 points. Centennial sits in 16th with 57.5.
Two-time defending champion Southeast Polk leads the Class 3A field with 184 points. Bettendorf is a distant second with 125.5.
The Rams have five finalists, including No. 1 Eddie Woody at 126. Woody advanced with a 1-0 decision over No. 4 Cale Vandermark of Centennial.
After riding Vandermark for the entire second period, Woody escaped in the opening seconds of the final period for the only point of the match.
“(Woody) didn’t score a single offensive point,” Groth said. “We cut him (intentionally)–and that was the only point he scored.”
As Vandermark tried desperately to score a takedown late in the match, Woody was warned for stalling with 35 seconds left. But the referee never again raised his arm, much to Groth’s displeasure.
“We got one stall call,” Groth said. “I had two officials text me afterwards and say, ‘That was bull(crap) that they didn’t call stalling that whole match.’ And it was.”
Vandermark (35-7) can still become a four-time top-four finisher. He placed fourth as both a freshman and sophomore before finishing second last year.
Ankeny’s Ben Walsh at 120 and Centennial’s Brandon Bogseth at 215 also lost in the semifinals.
The No. 3 Walsh gave up an early takedown and was pinned by No. 7 Zander Manz of Council Bluffs Lewis Central in 41 seconds. Walsh’s record fell to 28-2.
“(Manz) had him up in a single, and he was fighting it,” Wignall said. “Ben was fighting the hands and he was trying to get it back down and got his head close to his knee, and the kid just put him in a near-cradle and put him on his back. It was a tough one.”
Bogseth had no answers for No. 3 Camden Smith of Dubuque Hempstead, who got a takedown in the first period and then recorded three near-falls in the second period to build a 13-1 lead before eventually getting a pin in 3:18. Bogseth dropped to 24-10 on the season.
Centennial’s Ethan Sodergren will also compete in the consolation finals on Saturday morning. The No. 3 Sodergren (31-11) will wrestle for seventh place at 144 after dropping an 8-2 decision to No. 7 Stoney Wood of Indianola in a fifth-round consolation match on Friday.
The consolation semifinals will begin at 9 a.m. with the finals to immediately follow. The Grand March is slated for 5:30 p.m., with the championship matches to follow.
