Ankeny boys’ track coach Jordan Mullen has already put 2024 behind him.
The Hawks’ record-setting performance in last year’s Class 4A state meet won’t mean anything when the 2025 season begins on Thursday with the ISU Indoor Meet at Ames.
“In our preseason meeting I spoke about last year with the kids and how special of a year it was, and how that senior class helped set the foundation for the Ankeny Hawks in our sport!” said Mullen. “But this is a new team, and we are treating it as a completely new season. Last year is over. We know what we accomplished, but I have told the boys that if we want to accomplish that again it’s going to be 10 times harder this year! We put a very big target on our back, and we are starting back at ground zero.”
Ankeny won six events and scored a record 112 points in last year’s meet at Drake Stadium, finishing 26 points ahead of runner-up Cedar Falls. The Hawks captured their first championship since 1972.
Twelve state qualifiers are back from that squad, led by seniors Logan Fairchild and Ethan Zuber. They each won an individual title and ran on at least one winning relay at last year’s meet.
Zuber, a Missouri recruit, won the 3,200 with a time of 8:59.66, which set a state record. He placed second in the 1,600 in 4:11.94.
The two-time state cross country champion also anchored the Hawks to victories in both the 4×800 and distance medley relays.
“I have spoken with Zuber quite a bit in the preseason, and he is an absolute joy to have on the team,” Mullen said. “He had an amazing junior season, but Zuber always wants more. That one second-place finish last year is still keeping him very hungry! He wants to go and continue his legacy as a Hawk and have a lot of fun doing it. He will always compete to win, and if you know him and have watched him race he doesn’t lose very often.
“I won’t speak for him, but I do know he has some very high goals set this year and I am sure he will accomplish them!” Mullen added.
Fairchild, meanwhile, won the 100 in 10.89 seconds after claiming a Drake Relays title in that event three weeks earlier. He placed third in the 200 in 21.92.
Fairchild anchored the fourth-place 4×200 relay and then closed out the meet by helping the Hawks to a win in the 4×400 relay. Senior Tate Brownsberger is also back from that unit that posted a time of 3:14.90.
Ankeny’s other returning state qualifiers are seniors Caden Henkes, Landon Pote, Nick Robie, Sam Sandvig and Gavin Wise; juniors Hayden Carlson, Sam Madsen and Ike Smith; and sophomore Alex Zuber.
“Points-wise this year we are going to be very deep again,” Mullen said. “We have all of our hurdlers back, the majority of our distance crew, and we are deep in the sprints again. I have challenged the team this season to see how many different events we can score in! I preach that every point matters. It doesn’t matter if it’s one or 10–they all add up by Saturday (of the state meet).”
Robie placed ninth in the 800 in 1:56.79, and he joined Smith and Zuber on the winning 4×800 relay. The Hawks posted a time of 7:40.34 after winning that event at the Drake Relays in 7:39.54, which was No. 3 all-time in Iowa.
Sandvig joined Zuber on the winning distance medley relay. The Hawks were clocked in 3:24.56, which was No. 3 all-time in Iowa.
Sandvig and Henkes–who are both Sioux Falls football recruits–ran on the runner-up sprint medley relay. Ankeny posted a time of 1:30.54, which was No. 3 all-time in Iowa.
Sandvig and Henkes joined Alex Zuber on the 14th-place 4×100 relay. Henkes also ran on the 4×200 unit.
Pote, who has committed to Central College, placed third in the high jump with a leap of 6 feet 3 inches. He also placed seventh in the 110 hurdles in 15.08 seconds, while Carlson took 15th in that event in 15.39.
Pote and Carlson also joined Madsen and Wise on the runner-up shuttle hurdle relay. The Hawks posted a time of 57.99 in the preliminaries, which was No. 7 all-time.
“Spring is starting off well and practices have been going real well!” Mullen said. “We haven’t changed much this year. The only thing different that I have added in this season is that we make sure everything we do has purpose behind it, every practice with intention. The positive energy around the track and on the field is really good right now!”
Ankeny should also be strengthened by the return of senior Tyler Sickerson, a Northern Iowa recruit. One of the state’s top sprinters, Sickerson injured his hamstring during last year’s Drake Relays and was unable to recover in time for the state meet.
Sickerson placed fourth in the 100 as a sophomore and ran on the winning sprint medley relay as a freshman. Prior to his injury last spring, he joined Fairchild on the winning 4×200 relay at the Jim Duncan Invitational, where the Hawks ran an all-time Iowa best of 1:26.12.
“Tyler is very motivated this year,” Mullen said. “We are being very smart with him and bringing him back in really slowly this season. He has said numerous times he wants to be there in May this year, and that’s what we are going to make happen.”
Ankeny appears to have all the ingredients to make another championship recipe.
“The Hawks know what they have, and I let them know every day that we have the correct pieces to be very dangerous again,” Mullen said. “But we have to want it more than every other team in the state. With that being said, we are going to focus on us and only us this season with a team first mentality.
“What I do know is we have an amazing group of young men that have all come together in two short years and have created so many great memories, and we have had a ton of fun doing it! I can’t wait to see what this team can accomplish this season. I do know that there are no limitations–and if we stay humble, hungry and healthy–the Hawks will be very happy come championship season!
“It’s time to make some noise!” he added.