The Ankeny girls’ swimming team nearly pulled off a huge victory Tuesday on its Senior Night.
The ninth-ranked Hawkettes battled No. 5 Johnston down to the wire before dropping a 95-91 decision in a CIML Conference dual meet at Trail Point Aquatics Center. The Dragons trailed, 87-85, before winning the final event–the 400 freestyle relay.
“It was another fun and exciting night at the pool,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Rhoads. “It was great to honor our eight awesome seniors at their last meet at our home pool. It was a disappointing ending as we led the entire way up until the last event, but I am proud of the girls. It hurts and it should, because we are competitive and care–and we really wanted this one for the seniors.”
Still, it was a strong performance by Ankeny, which fell to 2-2 in the conference and 6-3 overall. The Hawkettes were coming off a 131-55 loss to No. 3 Cedar Falls on Thursday.
One of Ankeny’s seniors, Gracie Lindaman, had four first-place finishes on the night.
“I thought we had a lineup put together that could win and thought we swam well enough to win, but it came down to getting out-touched here and there a few times,” Rhoads said. “Credit to Johnston; they are a good team and finished better than we did tonight. We have to be better and more consistent with that.”
The Hawkettes opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Madison Trosper, Kyra Zinn, Leah Schafer and Lindaman was clocked in 1:55.70.
Lindaman then won the 50 freestyle in a time of 25.74 seconds. She later took the 100 freestyle in 56.23.
Lindaman also swam on the winning 200 freestyle relay. She teamed up with Paige Spoelstra, Zinn and Charlie Villhauer to post a time of 1:42.58.
Ankeny outscored Johnston by a 12-4 margin in the diving event. Miranda Gagne won the event with 188.10 points, Kambelle Subbert was the runner-up with 182.00, and Gabriella Gagne finished fourth with 167.20.
“I thought our divers were outstanding tonight, and I know they were nervous as it is reverse week but I thought they handled it well and scored big points for us,” Rhoads said.
Villhauer provided Ankeny’s other first-place finish in the swimming events. She won the 100 butterfly in 1:02.39.
Spoelstra placed second in the 200 freestyle in 2:05.88. She was also the runner-up in the 100 freestyle behind Lindaman, posting a time of 56.60.
Ankeny also had a 1-2 finish in the 50 freestyle. Zinn took second in that event in 26.13.
Allie Kearney added a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke. She posted a time of 1:14.99.
The Hawkettes needed to win the 400 freestyle relay to earn the dual-meet win, but Johnston took the event in a time of 3:44.65. The Ankeny quartet of Spoelstra, Trosper, Villhauer and Maggie Blackmore was second in 3:50.37.
“There is a lot more to life than winning and losing, and overall it was the best meet performance-wise we have had the entire season,” Rhoads said. “I am pleased with how we have grown and progressed and performed through this tough part of the season. We still have a ways to go and still need to keep working hard, but this was a good learning experience for us. It goes to show that every spot and place matters in close meets like this. I am hoping this is motivating for the rest of the season.
“I also want to again thank our eight seniors for all of their efforts and contributions to the program. They are great swimmers/divers, but even better people that I am lucky I get to work with every day. I am very proud of them all,” he added.
Ankeny will travel to Dowling Catholic on Tuesday for another conference dual meet against the No. 1 Maroons.