The Ankeny girls’ track team scored points in two events Thursday on the opening day of the Class 4A state meet, and so did crosstown rival Ankeny Centennial.
Ankeny’s Reagan Hanfelt tied for third in the high jump, and Hannah Baier placed fourth in the discus. Centennial’s Rondi Quass took fifth in the 3,000, while teammate Kambria Leazer tied for sixth in the high jump.
Valley leads the Class 4A field with 22 points, two more than Waukee. Ankeny is eighth with 10.5 points, and Centennial is tied for 15th with five points.
Hanfelt cleared the bar at 5 feet 4 inches on her final attempt, but then missed three tries at 5-6.
“I didn’t really perform the way I wanted to with those jumps at 5-4,” said Hanfelt. “They should have been more clean, but I still made it, so that’s pretty cool.”
Hanfelt entered the state meet as the No. 1 seed after jumping 5-5.25 at the state qualifying meet. That jump ranks second in school history.
“My goal was to get 5-6, but it is what it is,” Hanfelt said. “It put a lot of pressure on me today (being the top qualifier). I really felt like I needed to perform better than what I did.”
After jumping 5-6 to win the event, Waukee’s Josie Moreland moved the bar up a half-inch and cleared that height as well. She then received a congratulatory hug from Hanfelt.
“I’ve gotten to know a lot of the jumpers,” Hanfelt said. “They’re all super welcoming, and they’re fun to hang out with and jump with. It’s super fun. We’re like a big high jump family.”
Leazer was part of a six-way tie for sixth place after jumping 5 feet. Her teammate, Maddy LaVoi, also cleared that height but finished in a tie for 12th because she had more misses.
“Kam did a great job of being clean on the first two heights,” said Centennial coach Andrew Kruzich. “It was kind of funky in the high jump today…several 5-2 jumpers struggled to make it. But after she got 10th last year, we’ll take a tie for sixth. I thought she did a really nice job. Maddy almost made 5-2 herself, which is crazy since it’s her first year in the event, and she had never been higher than 4-10 a week ago. Two Jags in the top 13 at state is fine by me.”
Baier moved up from an eighth-place finish a year ago. She had a throw of 126 feet 7 inches on her second attempt in the preliminaries.
Baier tossed 123-6 on her next attempt, then had two more tosses over 120 in the finals but was unable to improve her mark. Alex Buscher of Waukee won the event with a throw of 132-5.
“I obviously wish I could’ve walked away with a gold medal, but I am keeping my head high,” said Baier. “I am going to keep improving, and I have lots to look forward to for next year!”
Quass posted a time of 10:17.40 in the 3,000. She improved from a ninth-place finish last year.
The top several finishers got spread out during the second half of the race.
“I’m really happy with my race,” Quass said. “It had a different grind to it–to be (running) solo for the majority of it. It just got to me the last 100 (meters) or so when Julia Gehl of Dubuque Hempstead outkicked me.”
Valley’s Addison Dorenkamp won the race in 9:55.89. Her teammate, Kamryn Ensley, placed third.
“I wasn’t quite sure if those two were going to take it out easy or faster,” Quass said. “But I knew either way, they were going to eventually pull away.”
Ankeny’s Drew Beason took ninth in the event in 10:23.66. Centennial’s Anika Mohrhauser finished 16th in 11:04.21.
Beason lost a close battle with two other runners for seventh and eighth place.
“I had no idea where I was,” Beason said. “I’m kind of sad about the end, but I gave it everything I had so it’s fine.”
The warm temperatures at Drake Stadium took a toll on the distance runners.
“It was really hot,” Beason said. “I thought it would be cooler.”
Ankeny also finished just outside the eight scoring places in the 4×800 relay, where the foursome of Lauren Jackson, Sophie Loeffler, Beason and Alli Macke took ninth in a time of 9:37.74. Macke anchored the relay with a split of 2:14.03.
“I feel like we could have dropped more time since we’ve run a 9:33, but it was really hot and it hit me worse than I thought it would,” said Macke. “I don’t know if we placed, but I feel like we did pretty well.”
Centennial placed 17th in the 4×800. The team of Bella Hodges, Tillie Smith, Julia Flick and Cam Hershberger was clocked in 9:54.66.
Dubuque Hempstead won the race in 9:21.09.
Flick later placed 14th in the 400 in 1:00.61. Ankeny’s Morgan Johnson finished 20th in 1:02.05.
“Julia ran the second-fastest open 400 in our school’s history after running in the 4×800,” Kruzich said. “She had a great two races.”
Gabby Cortez of Cedar Rapids Prairie won the event in 55.27.
The Hawkettes got an 18th-place finish from Eva Fulk in the 200. She posted a time of 26.99 in a preliminary heat.
Centennial finished 20th in the shuttle hurdle relay. The quartet of Ella Jumper, Jordy Jumper, Olivia Kroska and Kylin Smith posted a time of 1:11.72 in a preliminary heat.
“Our younger athletes ran great,” Kruzich said. “We fell on the leadoff leg of the shuttle, and that stinks of course, but we looked really good up until that point. And our other three legs all had season-best splits. We have two freshmen and two sophomores on that relay so the future looks good.
“All in all, I’m really pleased with how we’ve started. We’ll have a big day (Friday), so hopefully we get some rest and carry the momentum forward,” he added.
