The first outdoor meet is still two weeks away for the Ankeny Centennial boys’ track team, but the balmy spring weather has already allowed the Jaguars to spend a lot of time outside on the track.
“The weather has been great,” said Centennial coach Nate Smith. “We’ve been lucky to be able to be outside since the first day of practice.”
Centennial boasts 12 returning qualifiers from a team that tied for seventh place in last year’s Class 4A state meet with 31 points. It was the Jaguars’ highest finish since placing third in 2021.
Senior sprinters Braeden Jackson and Robert McGhee are among the team’s returnees. They both ran on the state champion 4×200 relay that posted a time of 1:26.20, which was No. 3 all-time in Iowa.
McGhee, a Minnesota State-Mankato recruit, placed sixth in the 200 in 22.37 seconds. He also ran the 200-meter leg on the sixth-place sprint medley relay that was clocked in 1:32.24.
Junior Noah Ross is also back in the sprint events. He tied for 17th in the 200 in 22.60.
The other returning qualifiers are seniors Max Dickinson, Aammin Hassan, Gavin Humphrey, Mark Nelson, Corbin Vander Weerdt, Brayden Vander Wilt and Cael Woods; and juniors Cohen Moll and JJ Morgan.
Woods, a South Dakota State commit, is one of the state’s top hurdlers. He placed eighth in the 400 hurdles (55.07) and 20th in the 110 hurdles (15.56) at last year’s state meet.
Woods joined Nelson on the 11th-place shuttle hurdle relay. He also ran on the 16th-place 4×400 relay.
“Cael had a good offseason, and he is looking to have a strong season,” Smith said.
Morgan was a state placewinner in the long jump. He took eighth in that event with a leap of 22 feet 1.25 inches.
Vander Wilt, a Central College recruit, was a state cross country qualifier last fall along with Moll. Those two joined Vander Weerdt on the 13th-place 4×800 relay a year ago.
Hassan is also part of the distance crew. He anchored the Jaguars’ 18th-place distance medley relay.
This will be the final track season for Jackson, who plans to join the Iowa football program as a preferred walk-on. Dickinson and Humphrey will also play football in college at Sioux Falls and UW-Platteville, respectively.
Dickinson and Humphrey were both state qualifiers in the shot put. Humphrey placed 17th with a throw of 47 feet 9.75 inches, while Dickinson finished 20th with a toss of 47-2.
On Monday, Dickinson placed third in the event in the Dickinson Relays at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, where he posted a throw of 52-7.25. The Jaguars won the 4×200 relay in 1:31.43.
“We have a lot of talent all around–the jumps, throws, sprints and distance,” said Smith, whose team is competing in the ISU Indoor Meet on Thursday at Ames. “We hope to see some points from all event groups.”
Centennial qualified for last year’s meet in all seven relays and scored points in three of them. The Jaguars placed second in the 4×100 in 41.34, which broke the previous state record.
All four of those runners graduated, but Smith still has some high hopes for his squad.
“We look forward to hopefully getting all the relays to state again,” he said. “It’s always a very competitive meet, and I hope to see ourselves in the top 10 again.”