(Story by Stephen McDaniel)
As it turns out, the Ankeny grouping of Charlee Cibula, Lillian Buckley, Morgan Fisher and Makenna Madetzke make for a pretty good distance medley relay team.
The Hawkettes were looking to follow up a strong Thursday showing that helped them hold the top spot in Class 4A after the first day of the girls’ state track meet, and the newly constructed distance medley team delivered the team’s best performance during Friday’s session.
“I’m super proud of this team,” Madetzke said. “This is our first time running this group together in the d-med, and I’m super proud of what we did today.”
The quartet that ran on Friday wasn’t exactly the same team that originally qualified for the state meet.
Cibula and Buckley were on the distance medley team with Ava Leinen and Sophia Graber that qualified for state at 4:16.30 during the state qualifying meet. Fisher and Madetzke took over for Leinen and Graber to run on the blue oval at Drake Stadium.
The switch worked to perfection as the Hawkettes dropped 16 seconds from the original team’s qualifying time to leap up from the seventh seed to state runner-up on their first try.
“I’m so excited about what we did,” Fisher said. “We worked so hard and we were so prepared for this.”
“I’m so proud of how we performed and this group,” Cibula added.
The foursome clocked in at 4:00.10, which broke the school record and was the No. 2 fastest time ever in Iowa.
The Ankeny Centennial team of Aly Balashaitis, Bella Buesch, Cora DenHartog and Bella Hodges placed seventh in the event. The Jaguars posted a season-best time of 4:07.08.
Waukee Northwest’s team of Quinn Jorgensen, Avery Vogt, Logan Vogt and Emee Dani edged the Hawkettes out for the state title and the new state record. The Wolves posted a time of 3:59.67.
“It was a lot (of work),” Buckley said. “We’ve worked really hard at practice, and we’re just a really tough team. It just all came together in the end, and we’re all really happy.”
Both Ankeny and Centennial later qualified for Saturday’s final in the 4×400 relay.
Fisher, Cibula and Buckley teamed up with Reagan Prendergast to post the fourth-fastest time of 3:54.06. The Centennial team of Balashaitis, Ava Barten, Teagan Jackson and DenHartog qualified sixth at 3:57.40.
Both teams had some teammates finish close together in their respective events.
Centennial senior Kylin Smith finished right in front of junior teammate Barten in the 400 hurdle finals.
“She’s my partner in crime,” Smith said of Barten. “She’s like my little sister, but she’s just an awesome teammate and awesome person. It’s a good way to go out.”
The pair helped add three points to their team total after placing seventh and eighth, despite originally being placed eighth and ninth overall right after the race.
Smith had clocked in at 1:05.21 with Barten right behind her at 1:05.85, but during the third heat with Smith, Waukee Northwest’s Avery Winter had pushed over a hurdle, fell and resulted in a yellow flag.
It appeared that Winter initially placed second in the event after discussion, but ultimately the Northwest senior was disqualified. Still, the Wolves currently top the team standings with 47.5 points after Friday’s session.
“I’m just grateful to make it back (to the state meet),” Smith said. “My sophomore year, I didn’t get to run here. So just being able to come out here and do what I do is a blessing.”
On Ankeny’s end, the Hawkettes had a pair of long jumpers finish close to each other. Leinen jumped for 16 feet 8.25 inches to earn the team a point with an eighth-place finish, while Durbin-Wilson jumped 16-6.25 and finished 10th.
Jackson took 12th in the event for the Jaguars with a leap of 16-4.
One of the other bright spots of the day for Centennial was having sophomore Anna Woods clinch a spot in the 100 hurdle finals after she placed seventh in the prelims at 14.97 seconds. Teammate Taylor Gilbreaith placed 18th overall in 16.32, while Ankeny’s Quinn Roush finished 20th in 16.78.
Going into Saturday, the Hawkettes dropped from first to second in the team standings with 33 points. Centennial is in a five-way tie for 11th with Waukee, Bettendorf, Cedar Rapids Prairie and Iowa City High at 11 points.
“We are super happy with how our first two days went,” said Ankeny coach TJ Jumper. “Our execution has been phenomenal, and we have had multiple PRs.”
Here are the other girls’ results from Friday:
4×200 relay: Woods, Bailey Snyder, Buesch and Balashaitis (AC), 1:44.15 (11th); Cibula, Brylee Bach, Gracie Lindaman and Riley Kayser (A), 1:45.78 (19th).
4×100 relay: Olivia Larsen, Lauren Sandholm, Aly Drefke and Buesch (AC), 50.40 (18th).