Coach Dustin Rhoads saw plenty of reasons to be optimistic after watching his Ankeny girls’ swimming team open its season on Tuesday.
Even though the Hawkettes dropped a 106-80 decision at Waukee, Rhoads came away from the CIML Conference dual meet fully convinced that his squad will continue to make progress throughout the season.
“This is just the beginning,” Rhoads said. “We are only going to get better!”
Waukee won 10 of the 12 events to avenge last year’s 98-88 loss to Ankeny. The Hawkettes swept the top three places in the 500 freestyle and also won the 200 freestyle relay.
“(Give) credit to Waukee, they swam very well,” Rhoads said. “Their coach spread out their top four girls across all of the events to win most of the events, as well as diving, and it was too much for us to overcome.”
Ankeny’s Maggie Blackmore won the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:26.47. Avery Anderson was the runner-up in that event in 5:40.54, while Piper Hedrick took third in 5:50.13.
Blackmore also anchored the winning 200 freestyle relay. She teamed up with Madi Trosper, Abigail Brugman and Allie Breuner to post a time of 1:47.02.
“We were able to win a couple events and understand the importance of depth by everyone trying to score points for the team,” Rhoads said. “It takes the entire group to do well as a team.”
Blackmore added a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle. She was clocked in 2:02.83.
Allie Kearney was the runner-up in a pair of events. She posted times of 2:23.67 in the 200 individual medley and 1:16.60 in the 100 breaststroke.
Charlie Villhauer placed third in the 200 IM with a time of 2:24.22. She later placed second in the 100 butterfly in 1:02.03, while teammate Hayden Ocheltree was third in that event in 1:05.27.
Trosper took second in the 50 freestyle in 26.21 seconds. She later finished third in the 100 backstroke in 1:04.85.
Trosper also helped Ankeny to a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. She combined with Kearney, Villhauer and Brugman to post a time of 1:58.19.
The Hawkettes later ended the meet with a runner-up finish in the 400 freestyle relay. The foursome of Blackmore, Villhauer, Adi Dee and Kearney was clocked in 3:58.63.
Kambelle Subbert added a third-place finish in the diving event. She posted a score of 202.35 points.
“It was a fun way to kick off our season at the beautiful Waukee Natatorium,” Rhoads said. “Overall, we had solid performances across the board. It’s important to keep things in perspective as this was our first meet, and we are a very young group and team. I’m sure there were a lot of nerves, and we have only been practicing for three weeks.
“I was also very proud of the JV group and their very convincing win (by a score of 109-65),” he added.
The Hawkettes will compete in the Grinnell Quadrangular on Thursday. Grinnell, Indianola and Newton will round out the field.
“The awesome thing is we have another opportunity at an amazing pool (Grinnell College) to compete on Thursday,” Rhoads said. “I look forward to this group getting more experience and opportunities to race again right away.”
