The Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial girls’ track teams tuned up for Thursday’s Hawkette Relays with some strong performances at the Waukee Invitational on Tuesday.
The meet was not scored, although team points were kept in the relay events for the Hy-Vee Cup. Waukee won the competition with 56 points.
Ankeny tied for fourth in the 12-team field with 29 points. The Hawkettes posted a state-leading time in the 4×100 relay.
“We went into the meet with an eye on Thursday so we did not stack too much,” said Ankeny coach Thomas Cotter. “I’m happy with where the team is at and headed.”
Centennial finished seventh with 17 points. The Jaguars placed third in both the 4×800 and shuttle hurdle relays.
“Honestly, we weren’t paying much attention (to the team totals) since we ran lightly and didn’t even enter two of the seven relays,” said Centennial coach Andrew Kruzich. “We ran a skeleton lineup, as most of our girls ran in the Ames 9/10 meet on Monday. So we were with just our upperclassmen and two sophomores. Our goal was to run short and fast at this meet, and build toward the Hawkette Relays on Thursday.
“All in all, it was a positive night in our young season,” he added.
Ankeny’s Eva van de Mortel won the 100 in 12.56 seconds. Teammate Mytika Mayberry was the runner-up in 12.61.
“Those are both top five times in the state,” Cotter said.
Those two later teamed up with Mikala Sidney and Eva Fulk to win the 4×100 relay in 49.04 seconds. Waukee was second in 49.32.
“We wanted to break 50,” Cotter said. “We tinkered with our steps quite a bit (Monday) to best utilize the four we had run it. They executed it perfectly.”
Ankeny also placed second in the 4×200 relay. The Hawkettes posted a time of 1:48.29, putting them among the 10 fastest teams in the state.
Shelby Romig added a second-place finish in the long jump. She set a personal record of 16 feet 7.5 inches.
“That was the surprise of the meet,” Cotter said. “She is now top 20 in the state.”
Centennial’s Katie Petersen won the 100 hurdles in 15.09 seconds. She set a school record while winning the race by .63 seconds.
“Her time was announced as the current No. 1 time in the state. She also met the Blue Standard for automatic qualification to the Drake Relays,” Kruzich said. “Katie is a quiet kid and a hard worker. She’s really improving her starts. She was behind to the first hurdle during indoor, but tonight she was first to the first hurdle. We know she’s quick once she gets going, and it was nice to see her put it all together.”
The Centennial foursome of Jesslyn Gaumer, Kathryn Vortherms, Sophie Lee and Morgan Graybill posted a season-best time of 10:06.09 in the 4×800 relay. Three of the four runners had season-best splits.
“We’ll keep looking at the 4×800 as a possibility to qualify for Drake,” Kruzich said.