Saturday was a good day for the Ankeny boys’ track team.
It wasn’t bad for Ankeny Centennial either.
The two squads combined for five victories in the Jim Duncan Invitational at Drake Stadium. The Hawks had four of those wins on a chilly day.
“We competed very well,” said Ankeny coach Nick Nelson. “It was a long, cold day, but the athletes showed up and did some great things. I am excited to see our progression as the year continues.”
Tyrese Miller raced to an easy victory in the 400, posting a time of 49.58 seconds. Teammate Jake Bosch was fourth in the same event in 52.57.
Jack Belding won the 100 in 11.23. He added a fourth-place finish in the 200, turning in a time of 22.79.
Carter Accola captured the 110 hurdles. He was clocked in 14.91, winning the event by .36 seconds.
The Hawks also won the sprint medley relay as the foursome of Aidan Adamson, Michael Rose, Tyler Sickerson and Bosch posted a time of 1:36.96, winning the race by nearly 3 seconds. The Jaguars placed fourth in 1:40.31.
“The conditions weren’t great,” said Centennial coach Nate Smith. “It didn’t warm up until the afternoon.”
Centennial got a victory from Sam Dietz in the shot put. He had a toss of 51 feet 8 inches to win the event by nearly 4 feet.
Isaiah Valentine placed third for the Jaguars in the long jump with a leap of 20-8. Ankeny’s Cade Pederson jumped 20-0.5 to place fifth.
“Our field events struggled a bit,” Smith said. “Isaiah medaled in the long jump, and Sam found a way to PR and win the shot put. He seems to be locked in.”
Centennial placed second in the shuttle hurdle relay. The quartet of Easton Miller, Tyler Bruns, Cael Woods and Cole Pieper was clocked in 1:05.78.
“That unit is mainly underclassmen,” Smith said. “There are many things that can go wrong with that race, and those guys handled themselves well.”
The Jaguars also placed second in the 4×100 relay in 43.58, edging Ankeny for the runner-up spot. The Hawks took third in 43.62 and also finished third in the 4×200 relay in 1:33.28.
Ankeny’s Levi Hill placed fourth in the 1,600 in a time of 4:27.59.
“That was a huge PR for Levi,” Nelson said.
Centennial’s Karsten Peters took fourth in the 800 in 2:00.87. Cooper Majors placed fifth in the 400 hurdles in 59.66, and Drake Dittmar was sixth in 1:00.11.
Bennett Blakeslee finished sixth in the 400 in 54.51. Mattai Cayton placed sixth in the high jump at 5-8.
The Jaguars placed fourth in the distance medley relay in 3:42.95. Ankeny finished fifth in 3:47.42.
Both teams will compete in the Fred Smith Hawk Relays on Tuesday at Ankeny Stadium.
