The 31 seniors on the Ankeny Centennial girls’ track team were honored during Thursday’s Jaguar Invitational, and at the end of the meet they nearly got to celebrate a team title.
However, a strong performance by its crosstown rival prevented Centennial from doing just that.
Ankeny racked up 119.5 points to capture the crown, winning a close three-team battle. Defending champion Johnston was second with 118 points, while Centennial scored 117 and placed third in the nine-team field.
“The focus for us going in was to give some of our athletes that were on the bubble of qualifying for Drake Relays in individual events to have one last shot to qualify,” said Ankeny coach TJ Jumper. “Then to have some other athletes gain more experience. We rested Makenna Madetzke, Drew Beason and Morgan Fisher–who focused on training.
“Both of those focuses were accomplished and then some. We had some great performances as well as some athletes overcome adversity. This part of the season is tough mentally because we are tired from hard training and trying to qualify for Drake,” he added.
Centennial coach Tyler Asbe was also pleased with his team’s effort. The Jaguars won four events–one more than Ankeny.
“It was a special night celebrating our seniors,” said Asbe. “This was the biggest senior class we have ever had at Centennial so Senior Night was very memorable. Our 31 seniors have brought so much to our program. They have helped create a super positive culture for the program as well as having a massive amount of success on the track and in the field events. This group will be remembered for a long time and has given the underclassmen some big shoes to fill.”
Sophomore Anna Woods took a pair of individual events to lead the way. She won the 100 hurdles in 15.13 seconds and cleared the bar at 5 feet 3 inches to win the high jump.
“Anna had another nice night of competition,” Asbe said. “She’s really starting to look sharp, and her consistency has been really strong. She’s having a great season and is really finding a good rhythm moving into the last month of the season.”
Woods also ran on the winning shuttle hurdle relay. She teamed up with Ava Barten, Taylor Gilbreaith and Kylin Smith to post a time of 1:06.24.
Aly Balashaitis provided Centennial’s other first-place finish. She won the 200 in 26.76 seconds.
Barten was the runner-up in the 400 hurdles. Her time of 1:04.64 met the Blue Oval standard for the Drake Relays.
“Ava has been dropping time every time she runs that event,” Asbe said. “She is getting stronger and is really figuring out the race, and it’s been awesome to watch her cut time quickly.”
Teammate Anika Mohrhauser placed second in the 3,000. She was clocked in 10:35.60.
“Our distance girls had a really strong night,” Asbe said. “Bella Hodges and Cora DenHartog both had big PRs in the 800. They worked together during the race and had strong finishes to reach new lifetime bests. Ellie Blevins, Trinity Klingensmith and Ella Campbell had huge PRs in the 1,500. Our distance group has been really strong this season. These are tough girls who had a lot of success in the fall during cross country, and that work and confidence has carried nicely into the spring.”
The Jaguars closed out the meet with a second-place finish in the 4×400 relay. The foursome of Balashaitis, Blevins, Hodges and DenHartog posted a time of 4:05.15.
Ankeny, meanwhile, scored most of its points in the individual events. The Hawkettes posted a 1-2 finish in the 400, where Gillian Schramm won the race in 1:00.53 to finish .31 seconds ahead of teammate Charlee Cibula.
“We had some huge PRs, including Gillian by 5 seconds and Charlee by a second in the 400,” Jumper said.
Fisher won the 100 in 13.15 seconds. Maliya Cobb took the discus with a throw of 112 feet 2 inches, while Gwyn Christensen was the runner-up in the shot put with a toss of 34-5.
“Our throwers had a good night and are making progress,” Jumper said. “Gwyn took a big step in the shot put.”
Reagan Hanfelt placed second in the high jump at 5-0. Maya Durbin-Wilson finished third in the long jump with a leap of 16-8.5.
Gracie Lindaman placed third in the 200 in 27.86. Sophia Graber added another third-place finish in the 1,500, setting another personal record of 4:46.10.
“It was a fun night for our team,” Jumper said. “It showed further glimpses of what is to come as we move into the championship part of the season. We have to keep building confidence individually and as a team. Tonight showed there is potential in this team to carry on our tradition of being an elite program in the state.”
