Both the Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial girls’ cross country teams turned in strong performances on Thursday at the Fort Dodge Invitational.
The Hawkettes and Jaguars are hoping to be even better in three weeks for the state meet, which will be held on the same course.
Fourth-ranked Centennial placed second in the 25-team field with 80 points. The Jaguars lost only to No. 2 Johnston, which totaled 48 points to defend its crown.
“Girls up and down the team were outstanding starting with JV where our seventh runner beat every other teams’ third runner and all the way down that lineup,” said Centennial coach Eric Cogdill. “The varsity rode that to a wave of confidence, and the JV was out in full force supporting. Collectively, it was our fastest ever scoring five and varsity seven on the Fort Dodge/state meet course.”
No. 10 Ankeny, meanwhile, finished fourth. The Hawkettes posted a score of 144 points.
“It was a great team effort,” said Ankeny coach TJ Jumper. “Our training is starting to come together at the right time, and it was exciting to see the team run some fast times up and down the lineup.”
Piper Messerly of Dallas Center-Grimes won the 5K race with a time of 18 minutes 12 seconds. Centennial’s Anika Mohrhauser was the runner-up in 18:18.
Ankeny’s Drew Beason and Makenna Madetzke both posted a time of 18:46, placing fifth and sixth, respectively. They finished just ahead of Haley Hveem, who took seventh for the Jaguars in 18:49.
“Drew has had great training and is going to have a big race here really soon,” Jumper said. “Makenna has been working so hard. She’s very committed and dedicated to becoming one of the top runners in the state, and it showed today. She is surprising a lot of people.”
Centennial’s Bella Hodges placed 21st in 19:30. Ellie Blevins took 23rd in 19:33, Julia Flick was 27th in 19:39, Trinity Klingensmith placed 33rd in 19:52, and Kylee Patterson finished 40th in 20:04.
“Strong finishes from Anika, Bella, Ellie and Julia all saw them overtake a Johnston runner in the final stretch,” Cogdill said. “Bella finished a spot better than where she was a year ago, and right on her ankles was Ellie in the best race of her career. She is turning it on at the right time.”
Ankeny’s Ainsley Kiene placed 29th in 19:42. Sophia Graber was 39th in 20:04, Raegan Prendergast took 71st in 20:44, Ivy Wiegand was 76th in 20:47, and Lauren Jackson finished 78th in 20:49.
“Ainsley ran another great race and is rounding into really good form,” Jumper said. “We were super excited at how well Ella Schulz, Ivy, Vanessa (Wise), and Bella (Sullivan) ran. They are adding such depth to our team.
“This was the first meet we had our entire lineup race together at the varsity level, and it was so fun to watch. This team is so fun to coach because of their balance of having fun and working so hard. We have a great deal of trust with our team because of the character they have as people. They work to exceed our standards every day,” he added.
Cogdill was similarly proud of his team.
“We had the girls reflect after the race and internally they commented that while we looked fantastic to the spectator, inside they each felt there was something more to come,” he said.
Both teams will head to Southeast Polk on Wednesday for the CIML Conference meet. Centennial placed second and Ankeny finished fourth at last year’s meet, which was won by Johnston.