Ankeny girls’ track coach T.J. Jumper has been named an At-Large Coach of the Year in Class 4A.
Jumper guided Ankeny to a fifth-place finish in last month’s state meet at Drake Stadium. The Hawkettes finished with 50 points.
Ankeny trailed eventual champion Waukee Northwest by a single point heading into the final day of the meet.
“As a team, you have to realize it is a long meet,” Jumper said. “We looked at it as three one-day meets. We wanted to be in contention each day, and we did that. The grit this team had was so impressive. They battled to the end.”
It marked only the fifth time in the last 49 years that Ankeny earned a top-five finish.