With only three weeks left in the season, the Ankeny girls’ swimming team headed to the Waukee Natatorium on Saturday for the CIML Conference meet.
The sixth-ranked Hawkettes finished in the middle of the pack.
Ankeny placed fourth in the seven-team field behind No. 1 Dowling Catholic, No. 2 Waukee Northwest and No. 10 Waukee.
“I was really pleased with our efforts today,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Rhoads. “It was fun to have all the teams in our conference at one meet at the best pool in central Iowa. I thought we raced hard, and our fourth-place finish was about where we have been all year.”
The Hawkettes finished ahead of No. 5 Johnston, avenging a dual-meet loss on Oct. 1. But Waukee was able to do likewise, finishing ahead of Ankeny to reverse the outcome of the season opener on Sept. 3.
“Waukee got us this time after having really good diving performances, but we were able to avenge the loss to Johnston,” Rhoads said.
Ankeny was led by senior Gracie Lindaman. She placed third in the 100 freestyle in 55.37 seconds and fifth in the 50 freestyle in 25.40.
Charlie Villhauer took fourth in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:02.15. Hayden Ocheltree was sixth in the same event in 1:04.39.
Maggie Blackmore placed sixth in the 500 freestyle in 5:45.51. She earlier finished eighth in the 200 freestyle in 2:08.39.
Paige Spoelstra took seventh in the 200 freestyle in 2:07.96. Also placing seventh for the Hawkettes were Avery Anderson in the 500 freestyle (5:51.16) and Madison Trosper in the 100 backstroke (1:05.86).
Kyra Zinn placed eighth in the 50 freestyle in 26.36. She later finished ninth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:16.13.
Allie Kearney added a ninth-place finish in the 200 individual medley. She was clocked in 2:24.90.
“We continued to train hard this week, and I was not worried about our times,” Rhoads said. “I just wanted the girls to race hard against some great competition.”
Ankeny opened the meet with a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Trosper, Zinn, Villhauer and Lindaman posted a time of 1:55.21.
The Hawkettes also took third in the 200 freestyle relay. Lindaman, Zinn and Villhauer teamed up with Spoelstra to post a time of 1:44.01.
Ankeny closed out the meet by placing sixth in the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Spoelstra, Trosper, Leah Schafer and Blackmore was clocked in 3:58.93.
Rhoads’ squad will now have two weeks to prepare for the regional meet. The diving competition will be held on Nov. 7 at Johnston with the swimming portion of the meet to follow on Nov. 9 at Mason City.
“I am excited for this group to start to get some rest and taper up for an exciting regional meet with No. 1 Dowling,” Rhoads said. “We will be ready to go and swim our fastest of the season!”