The Ankeny Centennial boys’ cross country runners may have surprised some of the other teams on Tuesday.
The 17th-ranked Jaguars opened their season by winning the Jaguar Invitational at DMACC. They scored a total of 49 points when the results of the two boys’ races were combined.
It was Centennial’s first team title since the 2020 season, when the Jaguars won three crowns–including the CIML Iowa Conference championship.
“We had a good race with the top guys all having nice races,” said Centennial coach Chad Fickbohm. “It was nice to get a victory in a meet. It has been a while.”
No. 6 Dallas Center-Grimes took second in the seven-team field with 65 points. No. 9 Norwalk was third with 66.
No. 11 Ankeny, meanwhile, finished in fourth place. The Hawks scored 80 points.
“I was thrilled with the way our team started off the season,” said Ankeny coach Jon Lindaman. “We know it is a journey from now until the end of the year when we want to be at our best. We also know that there are teams that will be better than us early in the season, but if we keep working hard and doing what we are doing, we will be where we want to be during championship racing.”
Centennial was led by senior Cohen Moll. He placed second in the 11/12 division, posting a time of 15 minutes 53 seconds in the 5K race.
Moll finished about 5 seconds behind Teegan Kralik of Norwalk, who was the overall winner as well.
“Cohen started out where he left off last year–and he is gaining confidence,” Fickbohm said.
Jaxton Alvarez placed fifth for the Jaguars in 16:10. Davis Johnson took sixth in 16:21, Brecken Allen was 14th in 16:55, and Jack Behrens finished 15th in 17:00.
“Davis went out a little fast but battled the entire race, and Jack really got after the second half of the race,” Fickbohm said. “And it’s really nice to have the addition of Jax and Brecken. They both had great races.”
The Jaguars, who won the 11/12 division with 42 points, also got a 19th-place finish from Ian Smith. He was clocked in 17:16.
“Ian has had a consistent summer of training and is set up for a great season,” Fickbohm said.
Ankeny got a third-place finish in that race from Isaiah Smith. Smith, who was 19th in the Class 4A preseason individual rankings, posted a time of 16:04.
“Ike was solid in his debut,” Lindaman said. “He toughed out a nice race despite feeling much less than 100 percent. He is the kind of kid that just doesn’t make excuses, but it’s hard to compete at a high level when you feel rotten. He will be excited to go out next week and have another crack at the two guys that were ahead of him. We were also dealt a blow losing one of our top kids, Miles Harbert, to mono this week. He has looked fantastic all summer, and we were hoping he would be a major contributor this season. We will get him back later this year, but until then, we will have to lean on the depth that this team has.”
Brett Augustine placed 12th for the Hawks in 16:50. Jackson Kaiser was 13th in 16:51.
“Our boys came in eager to race, prepared the right way, and executed their race plans,” Lindaman said. “We had a really balanced attack, and had both younger and older kids contributing. I’m really excited by the way Jackson and Brett started off the season–they are two seniors who are super competitive. We can always count on maximum effort from each of them.”
Ankeny placed second in the 9/10 division with 47 points. The Hawks placed three runners in the top seven of that race.
Freshman Gus Brown led the way, placing third in a time of 17:00. He finished behind a pair of Dallas Center-Grimes runners, including Noah Kerndt, who won the race and took eighth overall in 16:28.
“Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was Gus,” Lindaman said. “That was his first-ever 5K race, and it already puts him as the 13th-fastest freshman in Ankeny history. We knew Gus would be good this season, we just didn’t know he would be so solid so fast. He just looked so calm and confident out there racing.”
Sophomores Isaiah Swanson and Benton Schuchart crossed the finish line together. Swanson placed sixth in 17:35.0, while Schuchart was seventh in 17:35.5.
“Those two had really nice races,” Lindaman said. “They are just now starting to figure out what they are capable of.”
Both Ankeny and Centennial will compete in the Kirk Schmaltz Invitational on Thursday at the Iowa State cross country course in Ames.
“This is a good start, but we are focused on being consistent throughout this season,” Fickbohm said. “The guys are excited to learn how to race the best as a team.”
