When Ankeny Centennial girls’ track coach Tyler Asbe puts together his lineup for meets this spring, he’s going to have a lot of options.
The Jaguars return 15 state qualifiers from a team that placed 12th in last year’s Class 4A meet with 22 points, which equaled the highest finish in school history.
“We bring back a lot of experience, and we have had a great start to the season,” said Asbe, whose team finished ninth in the IATC Indoor Championships on Friday at Ames. “We have luckily had nice weather so far which has allowed us to be outside and get some quality workouts in early on. The girls are working hard and are excited to compete.”
Seniors Cora DenHartog, Bella Hodges and Anika Mohrhauser are among the team’s returnees. They will all compete at the collegiate level.
Mohrhauser, a Drake recruit, placed 12th in the 3,000 with a time of 10:26.49 and finished 11th in the 1,500 in 4:46.79 at last year’s state meet. She was the Class 4A state cross country runner-up last fall.
Hodges, an Illinois State commit, placed eighth in the 1,500 in 4:42.09. She also anchored the sixth-place 4×800 and seventh-place distance medley relays.
“Anika and Bella are looking strong,” Asbe said. “They have both put four years of consistent work in, and it shows with the way they have improved throughout their careers. They have made a huge impact on our program and bring so much to our distance group. We are looking forward to watching them compete and work toward their goals again this season.”
DenHartog, meanwhile, helped the Jaguars to a 21st-place finish in the 4×400 relay. She is headed to St. Olaf College.
Seniors Julia Flick, Haley Hveem, Olivia Larsen and Kylin Smith are also back for Centennial. The other returning state qualifiers are juniors Ava Barten, Aly Drefke and Kylee Patterson along with sophomores Bella Anderson, Ellie Blevins, Teagan Jackson, Ellie Pollock and Anna Woods.
“We have a fantastic senior class that brings so much leadership to our program and does a great job of welcoming and incorporating our younger athletes,” Asbe said. “The girls are just focused on doing what they can to improve each day and continuing to build as our season goes.”
Woods placed second in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet 4 inches and took sixth in the 100 hurdles in 15.22 seconds. She also ran on the sixth-place shuttle hurdle and eighth-place 4×200 relays.
Drefke and Flick also ran on the 4×200 squad that set a school record with a time of 1:44.27. Those two also joined Hodges on the distance medley relay.
Flick placed 10th in the 800 with a time of 2:20.09, while Blevins finished 12th in 2:23.31. Those two also joined Patterson and Hodges on the 4×800 relay.
Smith placed eighth in the 400 hurdles in a time of 1:06.33. She was fourth in that event as a freshman in 2022.
Barten took 15th in the 400 hurdles in 1:07.46. She also joined Smith and Woods on the shuttle hurdle relay, which set a school record of 1:04.59 in the preliminaries.
Pollock placed 21st in the 400 in 1:02.82. She also joined DenHartog and Jackson on the 4×400 relay.
Hveem took 21st in the 3,000 in 10:56.37, while Anderson finished 23rd in the discus with a toss of 90 feet 9 inches. Larsen ran on the 14th-place 4×100 relay.
“The state meet was a ton of fun last year, and it was exciting for our girls to see some success in many different events,” Asbe said. “We feel very well-rounded as a team and with the experience we have returning, we feel as though we can definitely make a push to finish in the top 10 this year.”