Despite winning just four events, the Ankeny girls’ swimming team rolled to a 114-72 victory over visiting Valley on Tuesday at Trail Point Aquatics Center.
The ninth-ranked Hawkettes relied on their depth to raise their records to 2-1 in the CIML Conference and 6-1 overall. They placed second in all 12 events and had seven third-place finishes.
“I thought we had a solid performance overall,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Rhoads. “There were some good times put up across the board, but also some areas where we need to be more consistent. Again, our depth was able to find a way to get the team victory for us. It’s always fun to get a win in our tough conference.”
Ankeny opened the meet with a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Madison Trosper, Allie Kearney, Charlie Villhauer and Gracie Lindaman won the race in a time of 1:56.01, while the quartet of Leah Schafer, Lydia Crabb, Hayden Ocheltree and Allie Breuner took second in 2:01.36.
The Hawkettes later ended the meet with another 1-2 finish in the 400 freestyle relay. Trosper, Lindaman and Villhauer teamed up with Paige Spoelstra to win the race in 3:51.75, while the team of Kyra Zinn, Schafer, Maggie Blackmore and Kearney was second in 4:00.07.
Spoelstra earlier won the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:05.73. Blackmore was the runner-up in 2:08.29.
Kearney then won the 200 individual medley in 2:23.75. Kylee Stone placed second in that race, posting a time of 2:35.34.
Lindaman took second in the 50 freestyle in 25.80 seconds. She was also the runner-up in the 100 backstroke in 1:05.86.
Other second-place finishes were provided by Ocheltree in the 100 butterfly (1:06.21), Spoelstra in the 100 freestyle (57.29), Schafer in the 500 freestyle (5:50.45) and Kearney in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.96). Miranda Gagne added another runner-up finish in the diving event, posting a score of 173.10 points.
Ankeny also placed second in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Blackmore, Zinn, Spoelstra and Trosper was clocked in 1:46.22.
“We are hitting a very tough part of our season, and we have to keep training hard through it all to reach our goals at the end of the season,” Rhoads said. “The girls are not expected to be having their best times right now. We have to keep learning how to race and compete when sore and tired and focus on all the important small details in races that end up making a big difference. Staying positive and motivated is a big thing, too.
“It’s a tough sport physically and mentally, but I have so much respect for this group and am proud of them and how far we have come as a team so far. There’s lots to look forward to coming up!” he added.
Ankeny will host a non-conference meet against No. 3 Cedar Falls on Thursday.