The Ankeny Centennial boys’ cross country team placed third in the Indianola Invitational on Thursday for the second year in a row.
The 17th-ranked Jaguars finished with 72 points in the 13-team field. The meet was held at Pickard Park.
“It was a good day all around for us,” said Centennial coach Chad Fickbohm. “What we really liked about this meet is the entire team is competing much better through the entire race.”
Gilbert, the top-ranked team in Class 3A, easily won the meet with 35 points. Des Moines Christian, the No. 3 team in Class 3A, was second with 71.
Gilbert swept the top three places in the 5K race. Logan Bleich was the winner in 15:00, edging teammate Jacob Tallman by about 2 seconds.
Centennial was led by junior Cohen Moll. He placed sixth in a time of 15:32.
“Cohen has been consistent for us all season,” Fickbohm said.
Brayden Vander Wilt took 12th for the Jaguars in 15:56, while Davis Johnson was 13th in 15:57. Jack Behrens placed 19th in 16:15, Sean Thomas was 22nd in 16:19, Corbin Vander Weerdt took 26th in 16:32, and Ian Smith finished 34th in 16:44.
Centennial’s Mark Nelson won the JV race in 16:47.
“Brayden and Davis, Jack and Sean racing the way they did makes us a different team than what we have seen the last couple of weeks,” Fickbohm said. “Corbin is right behind, and we know he is able to be in that group. Ian and Mark both had nice races, and hopefully they’ll keep improving.
“It’s certainly exciting to finally get our spread back to where it needs to be. We just need to stay healthy and positive going forward,” he added.
The No. 3 Centennial girls’ team also competed at the meet, but entered just four runners in the varsity race. Thus, the Jaguars fielded an incomplete squad and were not listed in the team standings.
Julia Flick placed seventh for the Jaguars in a time of 19:07. Tallie Plueger took 22nd in 20:49, Lyla Hoeppner was 25th in 21:09, and Brekklin Wills finished 36th in 22:05.
The rest of the Centennial girls’ team will compete in the Lawrence Free State Invitational this weekend in Kansas.