Heading into the final day of the coed state track meet, the Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial girls’ teams are still in the mix for top-10 finishes in Class 4A.
The Hawkettes are tied with Valley for sixth place with 19 points apiece. The Jaguars are tied with Burlington for 11th with 15 points.
Two-time defending champion Waukee Northwest has moved into the lead with 47 points. Pleasant Valley, which held a five-point lead over Johnston after the first five events on Thursday, sits in second with 43.
Both Ankeny and Centennial scored points in the first event on Friday. The Hawkettes came out of Section 2 to place fifth in the distance medley relay, while the Jaguars finished seventh.
The Ankeny foursome of Lillian Smith, Sophie Loeffler, Lillian Buckley and Alli Macke posted a time of 4:05.93. Macke ran the 800-meter anchor leg in 2:14.1.
“I think we were really happy with our time,” said Smith. “Our goal is to win every race, but I’m proud of everyone. We did the best that we could.”
The Centennial team of Aly Drefke, Addison Arringdale, Julia Flick and Bella Hodges was clocked in 4:08.19. Hodges ran the anchor leg in 2:16.9.
“That was our best time all season, so we were happy with it,” said Hodges. “Our goal was to see if we could get in the top eight.”
Dubuque Hempstead won the race in a time of 4:00.21. Both Ankeny and Centennial ran the third-fastest time in their respective school histories.
The Jaguars later came out of Section 2 to place eighth in the 4×200 relay while breaking the school record. The quartet of Anna Woods, Drefke, Arringdale and Flick posted a time of 1:44.269, edging Southeast Polk by one-thousandth of a second to earn a team point.
Waukee Northwest won the race by nearly 3 seconds. The Wolves set an all-time Iowa best of 1:39.15.
Centennial also got an eighth-place finish from Kylin Smith in the 400 hurdles. She was clocked in 1:06.33, about 1 second off her personal best.
“It was awful,” Smith said of her race. “I messed up too many times. It just wasn’t good enough to perform at state.”
Avery Winter of Waukee Northwest won the race in 1:02.11. She edged Pleasant Valley’s Jessie Clemons by .06 seconds.
Ankeny’s Ava Leinen placed eighth in the long jump. She jumped 17 feet 1/4 inch on her opening attempt to qualify for the finals, but was never able to improve her mark.
Leinen’s teammate, Maya Durbin-Wilson, also advanced to the finals. She jumped a personal best 16-11 on her next-to-last attempt and finished ninth.
Abby Mecklenburg of Linn-Mar (Marion) won the event. She jumped 18-2.25.
The Hawkettes later qualified for Saturday’s final in the 4×400 relay. The team of Macke, Morgan Johnson, Loeffler and Buckley posted the fifth-fastest time of 3:58.48.
Centennial’s Woods also advanced to the final in the 100 hurdles, but just barely. She posted a time of 15.34 to edge Paige Paup of Cedar Falls by .02 seconds for the final qualifying spot.
Here are the rest of Friday’s results:
100 hurdles–Madeline Poock (A), 17.08 (23rd).
Long jump–Kambria Leazer (AC), 16-7.5 (13th); Elizabeth Mahama (AC), 16-3.75 (18th).
4×200 relay–Karsen Jacks, Sophie Loeffler, Teagan Moyer and Morgan Johnson (A), 1:44.66 (12th).
400 hurdles–Ava Barten (AC), 1:07.46 (15th); Gracie Lindaman (A), 1:09.11 (23rd).
4×400 relay–Ellie Pollock, Addie Pollock, Cora DenHartog and Teagan Jackson (AC), 4:12.11 (21st).
4×100 relay–Ava Leinen, Karsen Jacks, Lillian Smith and Lillian Buckley (A), 49.29 (12th); Olivia Larsen, Morgan Posusta, Jaeden Pratt and Addison Arringdale (AC), 49.38 (14th).
