After a busy weekend at the Drake Relays, the Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial boys’ track teams adjusted their lineups for the CIML Conference meet on Thursday.
The Jaguars placed fifth in the nine-team field at Southeast Polk. They finished with 91 points.
“We’re kind of here just to have fun, especially since it’s the last races of the year for some of the guys,” said Centennial junior Braeden Jackson, who ran on the winning 4×200 relay. “We just want everybody to have a good time.”
Ankeny, meanwhile, placed seventh with 61 points. The Hawks competed without two of their stars, Tyler Sickerson and Ethan Zuber.
“We gave Ethan an off meet because of the load he had at Drake,” said Ankeny coach Jordan Mullen. “Tyler is making great progress (with his hamstring injury), and we’re hoping to see him back in action at districts!”
The Hawks closed out the meet by winning the 4×400 relay in 3:16.45, the fastest time in the state this season. The quartet of Logan Fairchild, Tate Brownsberger, Jake Bosch and Jack Belding finished more than 7 seconds ahead of runner-up Johnston.
“We used the meet to see some things that we knew could happen. They just hadn’t come together yet, and tonight they did!” Mullen said. “I know the team score doesn’t reflect what happened, but the Hawks are very happy! The entire team from upperclassmen to freshmen came out and competed hard, and we had a lot of fun!”
Ankeny sophomore Hayden Carlson raced to a victory in the 110 hurdles. He set a personal record of 14.89 seconds.
“I wasn’t expecting that, but I’m really glad it happened–that’s for sure,” Carlson said. “It really helped to run against those high-level runners.”
Carlson also teamed up with Landon Pote, Sam Madsen and Gavin Wise for a fourth-place finish in the shuttle hurdle relay. The Hawks posted a time of 59.35 seconds and were one of four teams to break the 1-minute barrier.
“I definitely feel like we can place at state in the shuttle and the highs,” Carlson said. “Any (points) that we can get in the hurdles will help our team out.”
The Hawks’ other victory came in the 400, where Belding posted a time of 48.74 seconds. Fairchild finished third in 49.35.
Ankeny added a second-place finish in the distance medley relay. The foursome of Treyton Grossman, Bosch, Chase Bradley and Ike Smith posted a time of 3:37.40.
Centennial’s Robert McGhee ran on two winning relays. He also placed fourth in the 100 in 11.05 seconds.
McGhee teamed up with Elijah Porter, Connor Welsch and Corbin Vander Weerdt to win the sprint medley relay. The Jaguars were clocked in 1:34.09.
Centennial also won the 4×200 in 1:28.04, edging Dowling Catholic by .16 seconds. That team consisted of McGhee, Lawson Langford, Jackson and Max Snyder.
“We’re trying a lot of new different things,” Jackson said. “We had a different quartet there just to see what our time would be and how the exchanges went.”
Cael Woods placed second for the Jaguars in the 400 hurdles, posting a time of 55.21 seconds. Teammate JJ Morgan was the runner-up in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet 11.5 inches.
Max Dickinson took third in the shot put with a throw of 49-11.5. Kaleb Kruzich placed fourth in the high jump at 6-0, and AJ Schermerhorn finished fourth in the 1,600 in 4:23.17.
Dowling easily won the meet with 154 points. Waukee took second with 106.
Both Ankeny and Centennial will now prepare for next week’s state qualifying meets.
“It is now championship season and after tonight I’ve seen everything we needed to see!” Mullen said. “The hawks are firing on all cylinders right now, and we are very excited for districts!”
