The Ankeny Centennial boys’ track team has put itself into position to make a lot of noise at next week’s Class 4A state meet.
The Jaguars won a district title on Thursday at Urbandale with 152 points, finishing 18 points ahead of Southeast Polk. They qualified for the state meet in 13 events, including all seven relays.
Centennial is among the top four qualifiers in six of the relays. The Jaguars are the top qualifier in the 4×400 relay.
“Overall, things went well,” said Centennial coach Nate Smith. “When at a meet like this one, the goal is to get another opportunity. The team handled themselves well, and they are looking forward to state.”
Centennial’s Tommy Collins enjoyed an outstanding meet. He won the 400 in 49.38 seconds, which ranks second among all the qualifiers in Class 4A.
Collins also anchored a pair of winning relays, including the 4×400. In that race, he teamed up with Trey Porter, Austin Jones and Michael Joensen to post the state’s best time of 3:21.66.
Collins and Porter also combined with D’Eric Smith and Dominic Berry to win the sprint medley relay. The Jaguars posted a time of 1:32.30, which ranks second among the 4A qualifiers.
“We’re absolutely pumped about the week to come and can’t wait to get back out on the blue oval and really run pretty fast,” Collins said. “I know Mike, Austin, Trey and I are crazy excited for that 4×400 especially and just want to get really juicy with it. The atmosphere on the team right now is electric, and everybody knows what’s in store and what we’ve got to do moving forward. I think we’ve got a strong team of real dudes not only as athletes but as guys who are going to come out and support each other every day and make sure we all give it our best. All the guys are ready to go and leave it all out on the track.”
Like Collins, Smith won an individual event and also ran on two winning relays. He took the 100 in 11.23, edging Southeast Polk standout Titus Christiansen by one-hundredth of a second.
Smith also teamed up with Jones, Porter and Nathan Wilde to win the 4×200 relay. Centennial posted a time of 1:27.93.
Tyler Johnson also had a big night for the Jaguars. He won the 110 hurdles in 14.96 seconds, while Berry also qualified for state by placing second in 15.19.
Those two also teamed up with Kobe Naber and Jack Davis to win the shuttle hurdle relay in a time of 1:00.56.
“I was very happy with how I ran, but never satisfied,” said Johnson, who was the third-fastest qualifier in 4A. “As a team, we did everything we could, and coming away with a district title is a pretty special thing.”
Porter automatically qualified for state in all four of his relay events. He teamed up with Smith, Berry and Wilde to place second in the 4×100 relay in 42.64 seconds.
Davis and Carter Reddel both advanced to state in the high jump. They tied for third in the event with a jump of 6 feet.
Blake DePhillips qualified by placing third in the 400 hurdles in 57.28 seconds. Placing fourth and advancing to state were Keegen Smith in the 400 (51.67) and Connor Cunningham in the 800 (2:00.03).
Cunningham also helped the Jaguars to a third-place finish in the 4×800 relay. He teamed up with Joensen, Nate Jones and Ryan Bybee to post a time of 8:12.34.
Centennial also finished third in the distance medley relay. The quartet of Alec Schneider, Thomas Bunce, Ryan Uhl and Karsten Peters turned in a time of 3:37.75.
