The Ankeny boys’ swimming team relied on its depth to win the Little Hawk Invitational for the second year in a row on Saturday at Mercer Park Aquatic Center in Iowa City.
Despite winning just two events, the Hawks recorded nine other top-three finishes and racked up 448 points to easily finish ahead of Bettendorf, which placed second in the six-team field with 364 points.
“We swam pretty well,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Rhoads. “It’s been a long week with three challenging meets in a five-day span, so it was nice to see this group come together and get the win. This is a traditional meet for the guys and means a lot to them, so I was thrilled that they did well and got the win.”
Ankeny’s Brock Peterson edged Bettendorf’s Kiefer Roemer to win the 200 individual medley. Peterson posted a time of 2:00.27, while Roemer was clocked in 2:00.37.
Peterson later placed second in the 100 butterfly in 54.81 seconds. Teammate Bryer Pearson was third in the same event in 55.10.
The Hawks took three of the top four places in the 50 freestyle. Owen Schwebach won the event in 22.23, Austin Troyer was third in 23.51, and Nick De la Cuba finished fourth in 23.70.
Schwebach then placed third in the 500 freestyle. He posted a time of 4:52.25.
Owen Evans and Troyer also had a pair of top-three finishes. Evans placed second in the 100 freestyle (49.41) and third in the 100 backstroke (57.60), while Troyer added another third-place finish in the 100 freestyle (52.31).
De la Cuba took fourth in the 100 freestyle. He was clocked in 52.56.
Finn Stukerjurgen also placed fourth in two events. He posted times of 2:03.30 in the 200 IM and 5:05.79 in the 500 freestyle.
Nicholas Robie took fourth in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:06.34. He earlier finished sixth in the 200 IM in 2:09.66.
Roe Denny placed fifth in the backstroke in 58.47. Andrew Law was sixth in the same event in 58.91.
Tommy Gilbert took fifth in the breaststroke in 1:06.40. Carson Sommerfeld finished sixth in that event in 1:06.73.
Pearson added a sixth-place finish in the 200 freestyle. He was clocked in 1:57.42.
Ankeny placed second in both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays. The Hawks finished fourth in the 400 freestyle relay.
“We have talked about not having any excuses and just continuing to work hard, learn and grow,” Rhoads said. “Each time we get to race and compete is a chance to improve and go faster. They have to have the confidence and belief they can do well no matter how they feel. Even if it doesn’t always go well, we can gain valuable experience. It was great to race different teams from (eastern Iowa) that we don’t ever get to compete against much.”
Ankeny will host a non-conference dual meet against Ames on Tuesday at Trail Point Aquatics Center.
“We have one more big meet before the holiday break, so we will recover and get ready to try to defend our home pool against another great team,” Rhoads said.
