The Ankeny Centennial boys’ cross country team is headed to the state meet for the third time in four years and the fourth time in school history.
The 12th-ranked Jaguars placed second in a Class 4A district meet on Wednesday at the Ashton cross country course in Iowa City. They finished with 60 points.
“We are looking forward to next Friday,” said Centennial coach Chad Fickbohm. “The team is excited to make it back to the state meet. Everyone has worked really hard this season with the goal of making it back to state, and we are excited to compete next week.”
Senior AJ Schermerhorn will be making his third consecutive trip to the state meet. He qualified for last year’s meet as an individual and earned a spot on the awards podium with a 12th-place finish.
“I am extremely thrilled that the whole team qualified this year,” said Schermerhorn. “Everyone on the team was super dialed in going into this week so I had a ton of confidence that the team would go!”
No. 3 Cedar Falls easily won the team title with 25 points. The Tigers placed all seven of their runners among the top 11 finishers.
Centennial edged No. 15 Waukee by four points for the runner-up spot in the nine-team field. The Jaguars placed four runners in the top 15, allowing them to qualify for state as individuals.
“It was a really fun night for the team,” Fickbohm said. “Having four guys in the top 15 was the best team race thus far with Cohen (Moll) having a tremendous day.”
Jaden Merrick of Cedar Falls won the 5k race with a time of 15 minutes 17 seconds. He is ranked fifth in Class 4A.
Schermerhorn, who is ranked third, took second in the field of 61 runners. He was clocked in 15:23.
Moll placed 10th in a time of 16:26 for the Jaguars. Brayden Vander Wilt was 12th in 16:36, and Brendan Owens finished 15th in 16:50.
Davis Johnson was Centennial’s fifth scoring runner, placing 21st in 16:55. Sean Thomas was 23rd in 17:02, and Mark Nelson finished 24th in 17:03.
The Jaguars’ lineup included a trio of juniors and two sophomores.
“We have a young team, and this is a great experience for them to compete hard at a state qualifier meet and have the opportunity to run at state,” Fickbohm said. “We have two strong senior leaders in AJ and Brendan who have had great careers and are looking forward to closing out their high school careers with a great performance.”