Thursday’s Waukee Invitational provided one last opportunity for the Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial boys’ track teams to qualify for the Drake Relays.
Centennial sprinter Ryan VanBaale, a three-time Relays placewinner in the 100, took advantage of the nice weather conditions to earn another trip to the annual meet. He won the 100 in 11.10 seconds.
“I feel I am progressing back to where I was,” said VanBaale, who has been trying to regain his form after suffering a hamstring injury during an indoor meet at Kansas in January. “I qualified 14th for Drake.”
Waukee easily won the Class AA division with 197.83 points. The Warriors claimed the team title for the fifth straight year.
Ankeny placed third in the eight-team field with 96.5 points. Centennial finished fifth with 89.5.
Kyle Johnson won the long jump for the Hawks with a leap of 20 feet 10 inches, while teammate Connor Niffenegger took the 110 hurdles in 15.35 seconds. Both were personal bests.
Niffenegger also teamed up with Cael Boyd, Mason Thompson and Nick Scherle for a runner-up finish in the shuttle hurdle relay. They were clocked in 59.72 seconds.
“The shuttle hurdle continues to get better,” said Ankeny coach Nick Nelson, who has two freshmen running on that relay.
The Hawks’ other victory came in the 4×800 relay, where the foursome of Connor Farrell, Tim Sindt, Anyoun Anyoun and Cole Johnson posted a season-best time of 8:17.68.
“They dropped about 7 seconds off their time,” Nelson said.
Ankeny’s Max Smith took third in the 100 in a season-best time of 11.28. Jalen Elwell was third in the 800 in 2:07.12.
Jacob Baier placed third in the shot put with a personal best of 52 feet 8.5 inches. He finished fourth in the discus with a throw of 153-7.
The Hawks took third in the distance medley relay and later placed third in the final event, the 4×400 relay. That allowed them to edge Des Moines Roosevelt by a half point for third place overall.
Centennial’s Liam Murphy placed second in the 400 in 52.51 seconds. Jon Wong was third in the 200 in 23.45.
Wong also teamed up with Joel Hyler, Tyler Johnson and Dylan DeAngelo for a third-place finish in the shuttle hurdle event. The Jaguars were clocked in 1:01.33.
Here are the rest of Ankeny and Centennial’s top finishes:
100–Avery Gates (AC), 11.32 (4th).
200–Peyton Agan (A), 24.29 (5th).
400–Thomas Collins (AC), 53.31 (4th).
1,600–Curt Peters (AC), 4:54.61 (4th).
3,200–Nate Jones (AC), 10:58.00 (5th).
400 hurdles–DeAngelo (AC), 58.47 (5th).
Discus–Trey Winters (AC), 135-0 (tied for 6th).
High jump–James Jacavino (AC) and Jack Davis (AC), 5-6 (tied for 5th).
4×400–Ankeny (Ryan Utterback, Brody Brecht, Anyoun, Max Griffin), 3:35.11 (3rd).
Distance medley–Ankeny (Agan, Carter McMullen, Noah Odson, Aiden McCombs), 3:49.50 (3rd).