The Ankeny Centennial boys’ track team won seven events in the Early Bird Relays on Thursday at Waukee Northwest.
No team scores were kept at the meet, where Ankeny also competed. The Hawks withheld most of their top athletes with the Dallas Center-Grimes Invitational coming up on Saturday.
“We got some younger guys that have been working really hard in practice out on the track to compete, and they did very well!” said Ankeny coach Jordan Mullen. “My goal as a coach is to make sure everyone runs in multiple meets, and that is very difficult to make happen when you have almost 150 kids on the roster. We made it happen last year, and we are on pace to make it happen again! It gets me excited seeing these kind of numbers out on a track team!”
The Jaguars got victories from Connor Welsch in the 100 (11.05) and Elijah Porter in the 200 (22.86). Lawson Langford added a third-place finish in the 200 (22.93).
Kaleb Kruzich won the high jump with a leap of 6 feet 2 inches, while teammate Blaine Sandquist was the runner-up in the discus with a throw of 154-4. Gavin Humphrey was third in the shot put with a toss of 46-2.
Placing second for Centennial were AJ Schermerhorn in the 1,600 (4:32.85) and Cael Woods in the 110 hurdles (15.27). Corbin Vander Weerdt took third in the 400 (53.35), and Sean Thomas finished third in the 3,200 (10:30.53).
The Jaguars won four relays, including a narrow victory in the 4×100 relay. The foursome of Noah Ross, Braeden Jackson, Joel Neith and Caleb Reed took the event in 43.752, edging Waukee Northwest by .003 seconds.
Jackson combined with Robbie McGhee, Welsch and Max Snyder to win the 4×200 relay in 1:29.86. Welsch and Snyder also ran on the winning sprint medley relay, teaming up with Langford and Jackson Reed to post a time of 1:35.98.
“I think the first two (outdoor) meets this year have gone really well,” said Welsch. “We’ve had some solid performances from a lot of people.”
Centennial’s other victory came in the 4×400 relay. The quartet of Cael Woods, Jackson Reed, Drake Dittmar and Zech Howe was clocked in 3:30.35.
Ankeny’s Landon Pote placed third in the high jump. He cleared the bar at 6-0.
Pote also teamed up with Sam Madsen, Hayden Carlson and Gavin Wise for a runner-up finish in the shuttle hurdle relay. The Hawks posted a time of 1:01.27.
“The kids are working really hard, and it’s paying off and we’re having a lot of fun as a team!” Mullen said.
