The Ankeny girls’ swimming team built a 61-48 lead after seven events during Tuesday’s dual meet at Valley.
The margin, however, wasn’t enough to produce a victory.
The 12th-ranked Tigers rallied over the last five events to beat No. 5 Ankeny, 95-90, for their first CIML Conference win. They improved to 1-2 in the league and 2-2 overall, while the Hawkettes’ records dropped to 0-3 and 4-3.
Valley took a 70-69 lead after sweeping the top two places in the 200 freestyle relay. The Tigers’ “B” relay placed second in a time of 1:47.74, edging Ankeny’s “A” relay by .16 seconds.
The Hawkettes went 2-3-4 in the 100 backstroke to regain a 78-77 advantage, but Valley then went 1-3-5 in the 100 breaststroke to take an 87-84 lead. The Tigers sealed the victory by winning the 400 freestyle relay in 3:45.47.
Valley relied on first-place points to win the meet. The Tigers captured 10 of the 12 events, allowing them to overcome Ankeny’s superior depth.
The Hawkettes opened the meet by winning the 200 medley relay in 1:58.38. Charlie Villhauer provided Ankeny’s other win, taking the 100 butterfly in 1:02.80.
Villhauer earlier placed second in the 200 individual medley. She was clocked in 2:26.36.
Maggie Blackmore was the runner-up in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:05.65. She later took second in the 100 freestyle in 58.52 seconds.
Madi Trosper also placed second in a pair of events. She posted times of 26.26 in the 50 freestyle and 1:05.00 in the backstroke.
Avery Anderson was the runner-up in the 500 freestyle in 5:46.19, while Allie Kearney took second in the breaststroke in 1:16.29. Ankeny also got a second-place finish in diving from Kambelle Subbert, who posted a score of 193.85 points.
The Hawkettes will travel to Cedar Falls on Thursday for a non-conference dual meet against the No. 3 Tigers (29-1).