After placing fourth in a Class 4A district meet on Thursday at Waukee, the Ankeny boys’ track team had to patiently wait to find out the Hawks’ total number of state qualifiers.
Ankeny automatically qualified for the state meet in just four events, but found out Friday that it had qualified in six more on a time or distance basis.
“The kids did great,” said Ankeny coach Nick Nelson. “I didn’t assume anything until I saw the results. But we were confident that we would get many more athletes in.”
Waukee easily won the team title with 189 points. Norwalk was second in the eight-team field with 124 points, followed by Indianola with 115 and Ankeny with 111.5.
The Hawks were led by standout hurdler Mason Thompson. He won the 110 hurdles in 14.92 seconds, which ranks second among all the qualifiers in Class 4A.
Teammate Carter Accola also qualified in the event. He placed third in 15.47.
Thompson and Accola also teamed up with Cael Boyd and Thomas DeBrower to win the shuttle hurdle relay. Ankeny was clocked in 1:00.61.
“I was very happy with my races,” Thompson said. “I was hoping for a better time in the high hurdles, but I still competed and accomplished what I wanted to do. Our shuttle hurdle team also did incredible, and I couldn’t have asked more from my teammates in the race.”
Tyrese Miller and Bentor Neyail were the Hawks’ other automatic qualifiers. Miller was the runner-up in the 400 in 50.05 seconds, while Neyail took second in the high jump at 6 feet 1 inch.
The 400 was Miller’s lone race of the night.
“I only ran the 400 because I injured my hamstring last week,” Miller said. “I felt that if I were to run the 100 and 200 I would’ve hurt it even more.”
Neyail will be joined at the state meet by Ankeny long jumpers Cooper Cox and Boyd. Cox took fourth at the district meet with a jump of 21-2, while Boyd finished fifth with a leap of 20-8.
Other individual qualifiers are Brody Brecht in the 200 and Justice Miller in the discus. Brecht placed fourth in a time of 22.87 seconds, while Miller uncorked a throw of 159 feet 5 inches to take third.
“I’m happy with my discus throws. I’m so close to just getting a really good throw. I’m disappointed in my shot put, though,” said Miller, who scratched in the shot put.
Brecht also anchored a pair of fourth-place relays that advanced to state. He teamed up with Colin Kadolph, Jase Bauer and Matt Stueckradt to post a time of 43.13 seconds in the 4×100 relay, and he combined with Kadolph, Bauer and Boyd for a clocking of 1:31.14 in the 4×200 relay.
Ankeny also qualified for state with a third-place finish in the 4×800 relay. The foursome of Jake Bosch, Abel Squires, Cael Cox and Andrew Poock posted a time of 8:22.00.
