Seniors Cale Vandermark of Ankeny Centennial at 126 pounds and Ben Walsh of Ankeny at 120 closed out their high school wrestling careers with fourth-place finishes in the Class 3A state tournament on Saturday at the Casey’s Center.
Centennial also got a sixth-place finish from senior Brandon Bogseth at 215. Junior Ethan Sodergren took seventh for the Jaguars at 144.
The fourth-seeded Vandermark became a four-time top-four finisher when he rolled to a 13-2 major decision over No. 11 Coby Fiser of Bondurant-Farrar in a consolation semifinal. He racked up four takedowns en route to the win.
Vandermark then dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 2 Alexander Pierce of Iowa City West in the third-place match. He finished the season with a 36-8 record.
Pierce broke a scoreless tie with a four-point near-fall in the second period. Vandermark later escaped, but he then let Pierce escape for a 5-1 lead to begin the third period.
Vandermark was unable to get a takedown the rest of the way. Pierce was penalized a point for misconduct at the end of the match, but it didn’t affect the outcome.
Vandermark placed fourth as both a freshman and a sophomore, when he lost to Pierce in the semifinals both years by 11-4 and 5-2 decisions. The Iowa State recruit then earned runner-up honors last season.
The No. 3 Walsh, meanwhile, pinned No. 5 Kent Montgomery of Newton in 1 minute 27 seconds in a consolation semifinal. He got a pair of takedowns in the first period to build a 6-1 lead before earning the fall.
In the third-place match, Walsh dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 1 Mathew Prine of Southeast Polk. He finished with a 29-3 mark.
Prine got the only takedown of the match with 45 seconds left to break a 1-1 tie. Walsh escaped in the final seconds, but ran out of time.
The No. 7 Bogseth ended the season at 24-12 after dropping a pair of major decisions on Saturday. He fell 10-0 to No. 9 Meric Hagarty of Waverly-Shell Rock in a consolation semifinal, then lost 12-4 to No. 6 Ethan Miller of Urbandale in the fifth-place match.
The No. 3 Sodergren posted a 7-5 decision over No. 12 Camron Bennett of Valley in the seventh-place match. He finished with a 32-11 record.
Sodergren got an escape in the second period to take a 1-0 lead and then added a takedown with 1:28 left in the third period to make it 4-0. Bennett answered with a reversal shortly thereafter, but Sodergren escaped for a 5-2 advantage with 1:07 remaining.
Bennett got a takedown with 52 seconds to go to tie the match at 5-5, but Sodergren then got a reversal in the final seconds to earn the win. He needs just two more wins next season to reach the 100-victory career mark.
Ankeny is now in 15th place with 71.5 points. Centennial is 16th with 64.5 heading into Saturday night’s finals.
