With defending champion and top-ranked Pleasant Valley bypassing the Cedar Rapids Invitational on Thursday, there wasn’t much competition for the No. 3 Ankeny Centennial girls’ cross country team.
The Jaguars placed five runners in the top 15 and easily captured the team title with 35 points. Mount Vernon-Lisbon, the No. 2 team in Class 3A, placed second in the 17-team field with 119 points.
The No. 4 Centennial boys’ squad, meanwhile, placed third among 17 teams with 91 points. No. 10 Cedar Rapids Prairie claimed the boys’ crown with 68 points, while Bettendorf took second with 87.
Centennial’s Anika Mohrhauser won the girls’ 5k race. She posted a time of 18 minutes 43 seconds on the Seminole Valley cross country course, finishing 12 seconds ahead of Davenport Central’s Joley Sullivan.
It was the fourth win of Mohrhauser’s career. She is ranked fifth in Class 4A.
Haley Hveem placed third for the Jaguars in 19:01. Bella Hodges took seventh in 19:34, Trinity Klingensmith was ninth in 19:49, Julia Flick placed 15th in 20:12, Kylee Patterson was 16th in 20:13, and Ellie Blevins finished 22nd in 20:44.
Moustafa Tiea of Iowa City West won the boys’ race in a time of 15:38. He edged runner-up Grady Olberding of Mount Vernon-Lisbon by 4 seconds.
Centennial was led by Cohen Moll. He placed fifth in a time of 15:51.
Davis Johnson took 17th for the Jaguars in 16:21, while Brayden Vander Wilt was 18th in 16:24. Jack Behrens placed 24th in 16:51, Sean Thomas was 27th in 16:58, Corbin Vander Weerdt took 28th in 17:00, and Mark Nelson finished 45th in 17:36.
Both Centennial teams will compete in the Tom Karpan Invitational on Tuesday at Valley Southwoods Freshman High School.