The Ankeny boys’ swimming team cruised to a 132-38 victory over visiting Indianola in a non-conference dual meet on Tuesday at Trail Point Aquatics Center.
The Hawks won nine of the 11 events to even their overall record at 1-1. They swept the top three places in six individual events and took the two places in all three relays.
“We had a good night overall as a team,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Rhoads. “It was fun to be able to put the guys in a lot of different events. I saw some signs of improvement across the board of some of the little things that can help us go faster. I thought the JV guys took another big step as well.”
Noah Kearney led the way with four first-place finishes on the night. He won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:08.55, then later took the 500 freestyle in 5:26.04.
Jack Walsh finished a close second behind Kearney in the 200 IM, posting a time of 2:08.77. He then won the 100 backstroke in 1:00.43.
Wilson Pous-Ojeda captured the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:54.79. He took second in the 100 freestyle in 52.68 seconds.
Finn Stukerjurgen won the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:07.42. He earlier was clocked in 55.60 in the 100 butterfly, where he was the runner-up behind teammate Bryer Pearson, who won the event in 53.28.
Ankeny got second-place finishes from Ike Evans in the 200 freestyle (2:03.34), Austin Troyer in the 50 freestyle (22.99), Miles Harbert in the 500 freestyle (5:31.64), Charlie Morrissey in the backstroke (1:02.04) and Tate Brownsberger in the breaststroke (1:11.42).
Indianola’s Ethan Russell swept the 50 and 100 freestyle events.
“Home meets are always fun, and the guys are comfortable trying to swim fast in the pool they train in every day,” Rhoads said. “It was a good night of swimming.”
The Hawks opened the meet by winning the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:46.26. That team consisted of Kearney, Stukerjurgen, Sam Howard and Troyer.
Stukerjurgen and Howard also teamed up with Pearson and Pous-Ojeda to win the 200 freestyle relay. Ankeny was clocked in 1:35.62.
The Hawks later won the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:30.25. That squad was comprised of Troyer, Kearney, Pearson and Evans.
“We had a few guys out sick so hopefully we can get fully healthy soon, but that is the tough part with a winter sport,” Rhoads said. “We have a great opportunity with only two meets left in 2024 to really focus on our training and work really hard these next few weeks before a crazy January with a lot of meets. We are continuing to get more data on what this team is capable of and how to create the best lineup possible. I am pleased with their improvements, but we still have a ways to go to get to where we want to be at the end of the season.”
Ankeny will travel to Valley on Dec. 19 for a CIML Conference dual meet against the Tigers.
