While the Ankeny girls’ track team rested many of its top athletes on Monday, Ankeny Centennial took a different approach to the Larry Weier Invitational at Dowling Catholic and placed second overall with 141.33 points.
The host Maroons easily defended their team title, racking up 190.33 points. Johnston was third with 132.
“We had a great night,” said Centennial coach Tyler Asbe. “We used it as kind of a tune-up meet for our Drake Relays qualifiers, and those girls had a lighter night of competition. We had many of our younger athletes compete well and have more opportunity to run multiple races. We also sent a group of girls to Saydel. We were able to have almost our entire roster compete by splitting up and going to two meets so that was great.”
Ankeny, meanwhile, placed fifth in the eight-team field. The Hawkettes finished with 61 points.
“We did hold out most of our Drake Relay qualifiers in order to get workouts and technique work in before this weekend,” said Ankeny coach TJ Jumper. “This meet, for us, was about getting some of our JV athletes the chance to compete at the varsity level to gain experience as well as some of our younger athletes to get another meet opportunity in. It also allows us as a coaching staff to devote our focus to our up-and-comers.
“This helps us build depth on our team as well as work toward preparing our team’s sustainable success as a program long term. Dowling’s meet is one we circle as a critical meet for our program’s future. It is part of our process that our athletes can see they are improving. It also helped a couple athletes put them in position for a possible varsity spot going into the championship part of the season,” he added.
Centennial won four events, including the 4×800 relay. The Jaguars took that event with a time of 9:50.51 and placed second in four other relays.
Centennial also swept both distance events. Bella Hodges won the 3,000 in 10:57.76, while Haley Hveem edged Johnston’s Marissa Pewe by .53 seconds to capture the 1,500 in 4:57.97.
Anna Woods provided the team’s other victory in the 100 hurdles, posting a time of 15.88 seconds. She also tied for second in the high jump at 5 feet 2 inches.
Addie Pollock was the runner-up in the 400 in 1:03.65. Cassidy Griggs finished third in that event in 1:04.06.
Kambria Leazer placed second in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet 7.5 inches. Placing third for the Jaguars were Ava Barten in the 400 hurdles (1:08.40) and Bella Anderson in the discus (111-0).
“Many girls tried new events, and we saw some awesome performances at both meets,” Asbe said.
Jayla Williams had Ankeny’s highest finish of the night, placing third in the long jump at 17-4.5. Gracie Lindaman placed fourth for the Hawkettes in the 400 hurdles, posting a time of 1:09.64.
“We had a number of athletes PR and take steps forward with their performance,” Jumper said.