The Ankeny Centennial girls’ golf team avenged one loss from six days ago and nearly avenged another one.
The Jaguars shot a 183 in a CIML Conference triangular meet on Wednesday at Otter Creek, where they defeated crosstown rival Ankeny by nine strokes after losing to the Hawkettes by 12 shots in the Toni Dickey Invitational on the same course on April 17.
“We played better today than we did in the Toni Dickey Invite, which was great to see,” said Centennial coach John Petersen, whose team has won the last four dual meets against Ankeny. “I like our progress so far, and I know we can continue to improve.”
Valley also carded a 183 and edged Centennial on a tiebreaker to remain unbeaten in CIML duals. The Tigers, who had a better fifth score, improved to 4-0 in the league.
The Jaguars are now 2-2. Ankeny fell to 1-3.
“Today was a hard day because we came so close, but didn’t quite clinch a win,” said Ankeny coach Kelley Emke. “We’re still working on syncing up our games to be able to get that low score.”
Valley had placed third at the Dickey Invitational with a 363 total. Ankeny was fifth with a 378, and Centennial finished 10th with a 390.
But the Jaguars were not at full strength for the invitational. Kaylee Sprecher was forced to withdraw due to an illness, and on Wednesday she was back in the team’s lineup.
Kate Geiselhart fired a 4-over-par 40 to lead Centennial. She earned medalist honors for the first time in her career.
“Kate getting the medalist was a great accomplishment,” Petersen said.
Geiselhart started her round with a birdie on the par-4, No. 1 hole, where she calmly drained a long putt. She later made three straight pars beginning on No. 5.
“A birdie is always great to start off with!” said Geiselhart. “I do believe it gave me a push for the rest of the round, but good or bad I always try to start fresh with every hole. It’s never good to get too confident or too down on yourself in the game of golf!”
Ankeny’s Madalyn Ross and Valley’s Divya Bhargava each shot a 42. Bhargava earned runner-up honors on a cardoff.
“Madalyn had a great 42,” Emke said.
Cate Trewet carded a 43 for the Jaguars. Lauren Wilford had a 48, Sprecher shot a 52, Danika Kraus had a 54, and Ava Entrekin added a 55.
Ankeny’s Isabella Ross fired a 46. Aubree Moeller shot a 50, Ava Sesker had a 54, Ava Clarkson fired a 58, and Catherine Nelson finished with a 59.
“Ultimately, we are still consistently improving and I’m proud of the girls for pushing through those tough holes to still have solid rounds,” Emke said.
Ankeny will compete in the Turk Bowman Invitational on Monday at Veenker Golf Course in Ames. Centennial will travel to Marion on Tuesday for the Linn-Mar Invitational at Hunters Ridge Golf Course.