In the past, Ankeny Centennial girls’ cross country coach Eric Cogdill has always been able to reload–rather than rebuild–his squad.
The Jaguars have qualified for the state meet 11 times in the 12-year history of the program. The only year that Cogdill’s team failed to make it to Fort Dodge was 2019.
Now, Cogdill faces the challenge of replacing four varsity regulars who combined to make 14 state-meet appearances in their careers. Anika Mohrhauser, Bella Hodges, Haley Hveem and Julia Flick all departed after leading the Jaguars to a fourth-place finish in Class 4A at last year’s state meet, where they finished just 12 points behind Dubuque Senior in the battle for the third-place trophy.
Mohrhauser was a two-time placewinner and the state runner-up in 2024, which was the highest finish in school history. She is now competing for Drake.
Hveem also earned a spot on the awards podium as a senior. She placed 13th.
Hodges joined Mohrhauser as a four-time top-50 finisher and is now running at Illinois State. Flick joined those two as a four-time state qualifier, capping off her career with a 62nd-place finish.
“That was quite a crew we graduated, having seven different girls from the class of 2025 run a combined 18 times at the state meet,” said Cogdill, whose team is 12th in the Class 4A preseason rankings from the Iowa Association of Track Coaches.. “They hold five of the seven fastest times in school history and captured four straight state qualifying meet titles. So, we will transition from being one of the most experienced squads in the state to one with many new faces. Fortunately, we saw this coming two years ago to reach down and offer a sixth/seventh grade team fall cross country experience at Prairie Ridge that recruited several runners now entering ninth grade.”
Senior Kylee Patterson, junior Ellie Blevins and sophomore Trinity Klingensmith are the team’s returning varsity regulars. Patterson and Blevins are both two-time state qualifiers, while Klingensmith made her state-meet debut last fall.
Patterson placed 104th as a freshman in 2022, helping Centennial to a fourth-place finish. She took 106th in 20:55 last season.
Blevins also ran at the state meet as a freshman, placing 59th in 19:40 in 2023. She then became the Jaguars’ No. 4 runner during the second half of last season, when she placed 21st in the CIML Conference meet at Southeast Polk while helping her team to a runner-up finish.
Blevins took seventh in the regional meet at Marshalltown in a season-best time of 19:15. She helped Centennial to its fourth title of the season.
Blevins then placed 43rd at the state meet in 19:18.
“Ellie had an amazing summer and looks to contend for an all-state finish at the state meet,” Cogdill said.
Klingensmith also improved throughout the 2024 season. She placed 13th at the regional meet in 19:38 before finishing 83rd in Class 4A in 20:07.
Junior Ella Campbell and sophomore Greta DenHartog are among the team’s other returnees. DenHartog ran in five varsity races a year ago.
“Ella has taken another leap forward after an incredible summer of training and looks to factor into our varsity lineup,” Cogdill said. “She ran one varsity race last year and was roughly our 30th-fastest runner two years ago.”
There are 76 girls on the roster, including talented freshmen Rebecca Flick, Piper Klingner, Natalie Cogdill, Sammi Maile, Rianne Guerra and Cate Benning. Natalie is Cogdill’s daughter, while Rebecca is Julia’s sister.
“Those girls were all among our top 11 finishers at our mile time trial,” Cogdill said.
Centennial will open the season on Tuesday by hosting the Jaguar Invitational at DMACC. Cogdill said he believes that his team has a lot of potential, if it can accomplish some of its smaller goals along the way.
“We need to develop deep bonds within all our squads to drive a purpose in our daily habits,” he said. “We need good health throughout the season–the fewer interruptions to training, the better. And we need to build racing experience including running form, breathing techniques, pack running and finding grit.
“If we do those things, I believe we have the athletes to be a top-10 team for the sixth year in a row and a stretch goal this year is for the squad to extend our streak of victories at the state qualifying meet,” he added.