Submitted photo: Fort Dodge’s Ross siblings (left to right) — Damarion, Alexis and Dreshaun — were all champions at the Mendenhall Invitational in Ames.

AMES — The Fort Dodge girls team nearly turned in the school’s first-ever Top-3 finish at the Jack Mendenhall Invitational.

The Dodgers instead secured another individual championship, along with a silver medal and four bronze performances.

Fort Dodge (113) placed fifth overall. Ames (175) was the team champion, followed by Mason City (159), Des Moines Public Schools (144) and Carroll (117).

“We were all pretty excited after we started so well,” said FDSH head coach Jon Koenig. “I knew they were smaller brackets and we could score some points.

“We started hot and faded a little, but finished strong in the medal round.”

The Dodgers pushed five wrestlers into the semifinals, while top-ranked Alexis Ross (135) and Maddie Pulis (155) reached the finals.

Araya Fellers (100), Alejandra Manzanilla (105), Mariah Benedict (125) and Macy Brown (130) all took third.

Ross earned the 135-pound crown with a fall over Summer Wolf of Indianola in 1:05. Ross (24-2) pinned Ames’ Lauryn Metcalf in 1:07 in the semifinals.

Pulis (9-4) lost to Des Moines Public’s Haylee McGrew (16-1) by fall in the finals. She pinned Clear Lake’s Olivia Fausnaugh (18-8) in 2:18 of the semis.

“It would have been nice to get Alexis some more matches, but she had a solid day,” Koenig said. “Maddie made a couple of simple mistakes in the finals, but those are the things we can fix.”

Fellers (3-1) lost in the semis, but bounced back with a 20 second fall and a takedown in SV-1 of the third-place match against Lemuna Gurisho of Des Moines.

Manzanilla (7-3) won by fall in her opener and lost by fall in the semis. She advanced to the medal round vye medical forfeit, then earned a 7-4 decision over Brooklyn Greenlee (14-7) of Ames.

Benedict (20-11) lost by fall in the semifinals after earning a fall in the quarterfinals. She had a fall in 3:29 of the consolation semis, then pinned Indianola’s Callie Chapman (15-7) in 1:31 for third.

Brown (10-13) lost her first match, but stormed back with two falls. She picked up a fall in 3:49 of the consolation semifinals and ended with a fall in 2:29 over Sarah Higgins of Ames (8-6) in the medal round.

Lucy Porter (5-6) finished fourth at 140 pounds. The Dodger girls finished the day 5-3 in the medal round.

“The girls wrestled strong on the backside,” Koenig said. “That’s where you get the team points and they are starting to realize just because you lose and go there, that you can still help the team.”

The Dodgers won 15 matches on the day. Four different girls had two or more victories.

Fort Dodge heads back to Ames on Thursday to face the Little Cyclones.