A pair of top-three finishes helped keep the Ankeny boys’ track team in contention for the Class 4A state title on Friday at Drake Stadium.
The Hawks sit in fourth place with 30 points heading into the final day of the meet. Johnston leads the Class 4A field with 47 points, followed by Linn-Mar (Marion) with 45 and Iowa City High with 41.
There are nine events remaining. Ankeny should score in six of them and could add some points in the other three.
“I’m very happy with our team’s performance and where we’re sitting,” said senior hurdler Carter Accola. “If everyone does their job, we should come out top three and maybe even win the whole thing if some things go our way.”
Ankeny placed third in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:28.12, which set a school record. The team consisted of Bram van de Mortel, Devon Akers, Jazan Williams and Tyler Sickerson.
“We were pretty happy with it,” Akers said. “I think we wanted to run a little bit better time, but we can’t complain about a top-three finish.”
Ankeny Centennial placed 12th in the event. The foursome of Elijah Porter, Lawson Langford, Braeden Jackson and Max Snyder posted a time of 1:30.25.
Earlier, the Hawks also placed third in the distance medley relay. The quartet of Caden Henkes, Williams, Jake Bosch and Ethan Zuber was clocked in 3:30.10.
“We did well,” Williams said. “We had to fight the wind on this backstretch a little, but we just pushed through it and kept fighting until the very end. We advanced from (a No. 5 seed) to third, so we’re happy. We were just going for points and placing right now.”
Zuber made a strong push on the 800-meter anchor leg and closed the gap on front-runners Moustafa Tiea of Iowa City West and Carson Lane of Johnston. But he was unable to catch them.
“I really wanted them,” Zuber said. “I would have had to close the gap sooner, because obviously everyone kicks the last 100. They were dying…they were tired up there. But that was a big enough gap–I should have pushed myself to close that, but I couldn’t get them.”
Iowa City West won the race in 3:27.73. Johnston took second in 3:28.18, helping the Dragons into first place overall.
“We really had a shot at winning,” Zuber said. “Obviously, we’ve got to move forward. We still have another day of racing. But all the guys stepped up. Four runners make a team. Everyone did their job, and it came together really nicely in the end.”
Centennial took 14th in the event. The team of Caleb Reed, Jackson, Bennett Blakeslee and Aammin Hassan posted a time of 3:36.63.
The Jaguars also got a 14th-place finish from senior Sam Dietz in the shot put. He recorded a throw of 49 feet 3.5 inches on his second attempt in the preliminaries.
“I didn’t do very well,” Dietz said. “I had a throw around 55-56 in warmups, but couldn’t get another one out there in the competition.”
Ankeny’s Maxwell Doyle placed 24th in the 400 hurdles. He was clocked in 59.88 seconds.
Accola advanced to the final in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.84. Teammate Gavin Wise placed 21st in 15.59.
“I’m glad I made the finals, but I wish I could have ran a little better race,” said Accola, who posted the sixth-fastest qualifying time. “I don’t like losing even if it’s just the prelims.”
Both Ankeny and Centennial advanced to the final in the 4×100 relay. The Hawks’ foursome of Aidan Adamson, Williams, Akers and Sickerson posted a time of 42.42.
“I feel good about our chances (in the team race),” Williams said. “We had a good day (Thursday), today we’re doing the same thing and (Saturday) we want to finish strong.”
The Jaguars’ quartet of Porter, Connor Welsch, Langford and Snyder was clocked in 42.48.
“We’re so glad to make the finals,” Welsch said. “I’ve been injured quite a bit so we haven’t had much time to work on handoffs. But it was good. I thought we ran hard.”
Centennial is still looking to score its first points of the meet.
“We just want to PR,” Welsch said. “That was the best time we’ve ran all year. There are some really good sprinters in the race like (Miles) Thompson (of Cedar Rapids Washington), but I think we can get top three. That’s our goal probably.”
Ankeny also qualified for the final in the 4×400 relay. The team of van de Mortel, Tyson Miller, Jack Belding and Bosch posted the second-fastest qualifying time of 3:19.84.
Belding, who won the 400 on Thursday, ran the third leg in 48.37. Only Johnston ran a faster time (3:18.83), which could set up an epic final with the team title at stake.
