Despite resting some of its top runners, the Ankeny Centennial girls’ track team earned a runner-up finish in the Dowling Catholic Invitational on Monday.
The host Maroons won the meet for the second straight year with 170 points. Centennial finished with 124 points, while Johnston took third in the seven-team field with 109.
“We used the meet as a tune-up for the Drake Relays,” said Centennial coach Andrew Kruzich. “We still finished second, so it was a good effort from our second tier. Emma Gordon, Meg Gray and Kathryn Vortherms all sat out, and the rest of our Drake kids were limited.”
The Jaguars won four events, including a pair of relays. Betsy Ridout won the long jump with a leap of 16 feet 4 inches, her third victory in that event in the last seven days.
Katie Saddoris captured the 100 in 12.63 seconds. She recorded a lifetime best.
Saddoris and Ridout later teamed up with Hannah Wilson and Calea Jones to win the 4×100 relay in a season-best time of 50.41 seconds. Their previous best was 51.12.
“That time puts us 11th in the state,” Kruzich said.
Centennial’s other win came in the sprint medley relay. The foursome of Wilson, Alyssa York, Karri Pippett and Claire Wubben was clocked in 1:57.99.
“Claire was in fourth place when she got the baton and anchored a come-from-behind win, which was fun to watch,” Kruzich said. “Overall, we had a good night in the relays. We were top three in six of the seven relays and fourth in the other.”
Jones tied for second in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet. Ellie Wilson placed second in the 400 hurdles in 1:13.24, while Katie Petersen took third in the 100 hurdles in a personal-best 15.74.
“It was great to get out and run a meet in nice weather,” Kruzich said. “We are not used to that at all, and actually started the meet pretty sluggishly. But we picked it up as the meet wore on and competed pretty well, despite holding out some of our Drake qualifiers and limiting some others. We’re looking forward to a nice week of recovery and a big Drake weekend, hopefully.”
Here are the rest of Centennial’s top finishes:
3,000–Savana Alt, 11:30.98 (3rd); Morgan Graybill, 11:44.37 (5th).
4×800–Emma Peck, Sophia Lee, Chloe Frazier, Brianna Smith, 10:22.98 (2nd).
Shuttle hurdle–Petersen, Meg Ridout, Pippett, Jones, 1:08.40 (2nd).
Distance medley–Jenny Hagg, Allie Robinson, Natalie France, Sydney Lee, 4:42.81 (3rd).
400–Jordan Su, 1:04.09 (4th).
100 hurdles–M. Ridout, 16.41 (5th).
800–Graybill, 2:39.55 (4th); Frazier, 2:42.68 (6th).
400 hurdles–Kayla Eilander, 1:18.83 (6th).
1,500–Jesslyn Gaumer, 5:14.59 (4th); Jeanne Peters, 5:18.68 (5th).
4×400–Wubben, Taylor Runchey, Su, Robinson, 4:23.28 (3rd).
High jump–Sophie Lampe, 4-10 (5th).
Long jump–Robinson, 14-8 (5th).
Discus–Alex Heston, 95-4 (6th).