The Ankeny girls’ swimming team won the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, to hold on for an 87-83 victory at Newton in a non-conference dual meet on Thursday.
Ankeny raised its overall record to 3-1 on the season.
“It was an interesting meet,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Rhoads. “We were kind of sluggish from the start. It was a short-course meters pool, something we aren’t used to, and we were mostly doing off events while missing four key varsity members. Plus, diving was completely forfeited as (Newton) didn’t have a board, which wouldn’t have been the case at home.”
Ankeny held a 79-77 lead going into the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Kyra Zinn, Maddie Trosper, Josie Parton and Gracie Lindaman won the event to seal the dual-meet victory, posting a time of 4:15.41.
Newton was second in 4:18.37.
“The girls knew their times wouldn’t be official, and I just wanted them to focus on racing hard even in their off events,” Rhoads said. “I’m really proud of my team for fighting and finding a way to pull out the win overall! A lot of people had to step up in the absence of others as we saw Newton was ready to battle and wanted to win!”
Newton opened the meet with a narrow win in the 200 medley relay. The Ankeny foursome of Parton, Zinn, Alexis Hergenreter and Leah Schafer was second in a time of 2:11.17.
Lindaman won the 200 freestyle in 2:17.68. Hergenreter followed by winning the 200 individual medley in 2:38.45, then later captured the 400 freestyle in 4:52.84.
Parton was the runner-up in the 200 IM in 2:39.38.
“I thought Alexis, Josie and Gracie were highlights of the night, but we needed everyone to squeak out the victory,” Rhoads said.
Trosper won the 100 butterfly in 1:14.42. Kylee Stone was second in that event in 1:16.77.
Ankeny’s other victory came in the 200 freestyle relay, where the quartet of Lindaman, Trosper, Hergenreter and Parton posted a time of 1:56.33.
Zinn placed second in the 50 freestyle in 29.79. She was also the runner-up in the 100 freestyle in 1:05.08.
Charlotte Huebsch added a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke. She was clocked in 1:17.29.
“I don’t want to make excuses for our team and credit to Newton–they were fired up and swam well, but we need to be better,” Rhoads said. “I’ll take partial blame for underestimating them and not having the girls in their best events.”
It was the second meet in three days for Ankeny, which dropped a 134-52 decision to No. 1 Waukee on Tuesday.
“It’s been a hard week of training, plus two dual meets,” Rhoads said. “We will recover this weekend and get ready for a big conference dual at home vs. Dowling (Catholic on Tuesday)! I am confident we will respond well and be excited and ready to race another great team!”