The final score of Tuesday’s dual meet at Trail Point Aquatics Center didn’t tell the whole story.
The seventh-ranked Ankeny girls’ swimming team dropped a 103-83 decision to visiting Waukee Northwest, but coach Dustin Rhoads was ecstatic about his squad’s effort.
Ankeny managed to win three events against the Wolves, who placed second at last year’s state meet and currently lead the state’s power rankings with 3,566 points.
“This was our best meet overall so far as a team!” said Rhoads. “I was really proud of how the girls competed and fought all night. We know Waukee Northwest is loaded at the top, and they could win the whole dang thing at the end of the season with the group they have. They are very well coached and have one of the best facilities in the state to train at, so they are always going to be very good. I told my team we had nothing to lose and to have fun and just go for it!
“We knew they would swim fast and dive well, so I was very happy that we stepped up to that challenge tonight,” he added.
Ankeny’s Charlie Villhauer won the 100 butterfly in a time of 1:01.58. She added a runner-up finish in the 100 freestyle in 57.40 seconds.
Maggie Blackmore captured the 500 freestyle in 5:22.56. She earlier took second in the 200 freestyle in 2:02.39.
Blackmore and Villhauer later teamed up with Abigail Brugman and Madi Trosper to win the 400 freestyle relay. The Hawkettes were clocked in 3:48.88.
“Our energy and aggressiveness were great,” Rhoads said. “Charlie and Maggie were both 1 second off state auto qualifying times in the 100 fly and 500 free, which was awesome!”
Ankeny opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Trosper, Allie Kearney, Villhauer and Brugman posted a time of 1:58.35.
Kearney then took second in the 200 individual medley in 2:23.09. She was the runner-up in the 100 breaststroke as well, posting a time of 1:16.36 in that event.
Kearney also swam on the second-place 200 freestyle relay. She combined with Blackmore, Allie Breuner and Adi Dee to turn in a time of 1:48.19.
Kylee Stone was the runner-up in the 100 backstroke. She was clocked in 1:06.43.
Ankeny also got a second-place finish from Kambelle Subbert in the diving event. She scored 202.35 points.
The Wolves improved to 3-0 in the CIML Conference and 15-1 overall. Ankeny’s records are now 0-2 and 4-2.
“I don’t really believe in moral victories and the team score was still a loss for varsity, but this was really a win for this young group,” Rhoads said. “The JV team dominated, and they all have improved so much as well. Now, the challenge is to keep improving at all of the important details while training hard to build them up before we rest and taper for the end of the season. There’s a long way still to go, but we took a big step toward where we want to be at the end of the year with our performance tonight!”
Ankeny will travel to Valley next Tuesday for another conference dual meet against the No. 11 Tigers, who are 0-2 in the league and 1-2 overall.
