While the Ankeny boys’ track team continued its quest for the Class 4A state championship by winning its fourth event title on Friday, its crosstown rival also made a considerable amount of noise at Drake Stadium.
Ankeny Centennial raced to a victory in the 4×200 relay, which also allowed the Jaguars to move into the top 10 in the team standings.
“Shout out to them. They had a great race,” said Ankeny senior Jake Bosch, who helped the Hawks to a fourth-place finish in that event. “Ankeny is still Ankeny–we’re all one town and one team at heart. I’m glad to see that the ‘ship goes home with them.”
Bosch earlier helped Ankeny to a win in the distance medley relay. He teamed up with Samuel Sandvig, Devon Akers and Ethan Zuber to post a time of 3:24.56, the third-fastest clocking ever in Iowa.
“It’s wonderful. It’s been a long time coming,” said Akers. “We didn’t get a flag at Drake either (in the distance medley relay), so I guess we decided to save it for state.”
It was the first state title for both Akers and Sandvig, who could only watch on Thursday as Zuber won the 3,200 and anchored the winning 4×800 relay. Teammate Jack Belding also defended his crown in the 400.
“I didn’t come down here (on Thursday),” said Sandvig. “I was watching on my phone cheering on my guys. Just getting out and running on the blue oval, it’s an experience man.”
Akers said he had a restless night as he thought about the race.
“I was very anxious,” he said. “When I was trying to go to sleep, that’s all I could think about. I wanted to get out here and get a win.”
Ankeny was in second place after the first three legs of the race. Zuber then ran the final 800 meters in 1:51.2.
“I knew with the lead they had on him, it wasn’t safe,” Akers said. “I knew Ethan could bring it home for us.”
Sandvig is one of the sprinters who has helped the Hawks overcome the absence of standout junior Tyler Sickerson, who injured his hamstring during the Drake Relays last month and was unable to compete this weekend. Now, Sandvig is a state champion.
“It’s a euphoric feeling,” he said. “Not very many people get to experience it. It’s something I hope to accomplish more of this weekend. I mean, Zuber here has already won three (titles) and we haven’t even finished the second day. We’re on a roll.”
Dowling Catholic’s Max DeRocher surged to the lead with about 400 meters left, but he was unable to hold off Zuber. The Maroons went on to place second in 3:26.07.
The Hawks are tied with Dowling for the Class 4A lead with 52 points apiece heading into the final nine events on Saturday. Cedar Falls is a distant third with 37 points.
“This race was definitely one that we wanted,” Sandvig said. “We came up short at Drake, and we thought we had it won. Zuber did his thing–he went out and competed. Everyone else competed too, and it was just good to get this one back.”
Centennial moved into 10th place with 12 points after winning the 4×200 in 1:26.20, which ranks third on Iowa’s all-time list. The victorious team consisted of Robert McGhee, Braeden Jackson, Elijah Porter and Connor Welsch.
“It feels amazing,” said McGhee. “We just worked hard, and we got it.”
The Jaguars got the baton to Welsch with a commanding lead. He then held off Jordan Townsend of Cedar Falls, who anchored the Tigers to a runner-up finish in 1:26.77.
“I had a really big lead,” Welsch said. “I just had to bring home the title. Shout out to those other guys. We worked on our handoffs quite a bit, and I thought they were all pretty crisp today. That’s why we put up a really good time. I’m really excited about that.”
It was the first relay title for Centennial since 2021, when the Jaguars captured the sprint medley relay crown. Elijah’s brother, Trey, ran on that unit.
Porter tumbled to the track as he handed off to Welsch on the final exchange, but McGhee wasn’t worried about the outcome.
“I can always rely on Connor,” he said. “He’s a good anchor, and I knew he’d run his strongest race.”
Ankeny earned five more points by posting a time of 1:27.61. The team was comprised of Caden Henkes, Akers, Bosch and Logan Fairchild.
“Every point counts. That’s what coach told us,” Bosch said. “We were all tired, so (the race) was from the heart. It’s between the ears the rest of the way out here, so that’s what we’ve got to do. Just know that every point and every second counts.”
Centennial also picked up two more points with a pair of eighth-place finishes by JJ Morgan in the long jump and Cael Woods in the 400 hurdles.
Morgan advanced to the finals with a jump of 21 feet 10 inches on his last attempt in the preliminaries. He then improved to a mark of 22-1.25 on his next-to-last attempt in the finals.
T.Y. Pour of Cedar Rapids Prairie won the event with a leap of 23-4.5.
Woods came out of Section 2 to place among the top eight finishers in the 400 hurdles. He was clocked in 55.07 seconds.
Aidan Jacobsen of Iowa City West won the race in 52.85.
Saturday is now setting up to be an epic finale. Ankeny qualified for the final in the 4×400 relay, giving the Hawks one last bullet to fire in the final event.
The team of Fairchild, Tate Brownsberger, Bosch and Belding posted the fastest qualifying time of 3:15.81. Cedar Falls (3:19.32) was the only other team to break the 3:20 mark.
Last year’s meet came down to the final event before Johnston edged Ankeny to win both the 4×400 and the team crown. Dowling has also qualified for the 4×400 final, creating the possibility of another CIML showdown on the blue oval.
The Hawks should also get some points from Landon Pote in the 110 hurdles. He advanced to the final with the seventh-fastest qualifying time of 15.17 seconds.
Centennial, meanwhile, qualified for the final in the 4×100 relay. The foursome of Porter, Welsch, Lawson Langford and Max Snyder posted the fourth-fastest qualifying time of 41.96 seconds.
Here are the rest of Friday’s results:
110 hurdles–Hayden Carlson (A), 15.39 (15th); Cael Woods (AC), 15.56 (20th).
Shot put–Gavin Humphrey (AC), 47-9.75 (17th); Max Dickinson (AC), 47-2 (20th).
400 hurdles–Drake Dittmar (AC), 57.66 (21st).
4×100 relay–Samuel Sandvig, Caden Henkes, Alexander Zuber and Devon Akers (A), 42.71 (14th).
4×400 relay–Cael Woods, Brayden Adams, Drake Dittmar and Zechariah Howe (AC), 3:27.75 (16th).
Distance medley relay–Lawson Langford, Max Snyder, Zechariah Howe and Aammin Hassan (AC), 3:39.04 (18th).
