Both the Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial boys’ track teams made some strong statements on Thursday at the Waukee Northwest Early Bird Relays.
No team scores were kept, but the Jaguars turned in a dominant performance. They won nine events, including four relays.
The Hawks, meanwhile, had three victories–and two of them were particularly impressive. Ethan Zuber pulled away from Norwalk star Tony Anania to win the 800 in a time of 1:55.22, while Ankeny set a school record to capture the shuttle hurdle relay.
The foursome of Landon Pote, Sam Madsen, Hayden Carlson and Gavin Wise was clocked in 57.67, edging Northwest by .26 seconds. The Hawks met the Blue Oval standard for the Drake Relays while recording the No. 3 fastest time ever in Iowa.
“It’s not very often you get a quartet together for three years in a row, and I have been preaching to them for three seasons now about how special of a year they can have!” said Ankeny coach Jordan Mullen. “Well, they lived up to the hype and set the tone for the 2025 season. As proud of them as I am, I have told them that this is just the beginning, and we have to stay humble and hungry. There are a lot of great shuttle hurdle teams out there, and Northwest gave us one heck of a run and will continue to do so. They ran the No. 7 (fastest time) all-time!
“We enjoyed every moment of it (on Thursday), but they know the job is far from done! They have some goals this year, and this was just the start of what can be a historic season for that shuttle hurdle team if they run to their potential!” he added.
Pote also cleared the bar at 6 feet to win the high jump. He earned the win over Indianola’s Kaisen Storm based on fewer misses.
“We wanted to get the season kicked off by setting the tone, and we had every age of athlete there from freshman to seniors,” Mullen said. “I told the kids I’m not paying attention to your times this early. I want you guys to just race people, compete and have fun! And they set the tone! We had an all-freshman sprint medley go sub-1:40!”
Centennial was led by senior Cael Woods, who swept the hurdles events. He won the 110 hurdles in 15.03 seconds and the 400 hurdles in 54.20.
Woods also anchored the Jaguars to a narrow victory over Ankeny in the 4×400 relay, teaming up with Jackson Reed, Kyler Jones and Reed Anderson to post a time of 3:24.83. Woods ran the anchor leg in 49.33 to finish just .04 seconds ahead of the Hawks.
“That 4×4 was a lot of fun and took a team effort to run a great time, and I am very proud of how our team responded to such a close race,” said Woods. “It is always nice to have some great weather especially this early in the season, and a lot of guys on the team took advantage of that and kicked off their season with a bunch of great races.”
Braeden Jackson won the 100 in 11.21 seconds. Teammate Noah Ross was the runner-up in 11.50.
Jackson and Ross also teamed up with Sam Heither and Caleb Reed to win the 4×100 relay. The Jaguars were clocked in 43.00 seconds.
Jackson, Caleb Reed and Heither also ran on the winning 4×200 relay. They combined with Robert McGhee to post a time of 1:28.34.
Jackson Reed posted another win in the 400. He turned in a time of 51.26 seconds.
Sean Thomas took the 3,200 in 9:54.49. He also placed fifth in the 800 in 2:05.16.
Centennial’s other victory came in the 4×800 relay. The quartet of Brayden Vander Wilt, Jack Behrens, Corbin Vander Weerdt and Cohen Moll posted a time of 8:04.20, with Moll running the anchor leg in 1:58.53.
Joel Neith placed second for the Jaguars in the 200. He posted a time of 23.56.
Max Dickinson was the runner-up in the shot put with a throw of 52 feet 1 inch, while teammate Gavin Humphrey was fourth with a mark of 48-6. Ankeny’s Ryan Tomlinson took third in that event, recording a toss of 49-1.5.
“Our throwers all PR’d, led by Tomlinson throwing a monster PR in the shot,” Mullen said. “I could not be more proud of all the guys we brought to this meet! We have all our pieces to the puzzle now–it’s time to start putting it together for championship season! These boys are locked in, and the energy is amazing!”
Centennial’s Caleb Larson was fifth in the discus. He had a throw of 136-5.
Jaxon Volk tied for fifth in the high jump at 5-6. Gavin Matheny finished sixth in the long jump with a leap of 19-1.5.
Levi Odson took third in the 1,600 in 4:35.44. Behrens finished sixth in the same event in 4:52.82.