Ankeny Centennial cross country runner Rebecca Flick earned her second victory of the season on Thursday.
Flick, who is ranked 15th in Class 4A, easily won the girls’ 5K race in the Indianola Invitational at Pickard Park. She posted a time of 19 minutes 1 second to finish 32 seconds ahead of fellow freshman Hannah Schmitz of Norwalk.
“Rebecca started the race behind three other state ranked runners,” said Centennial girls’ coach Eric Cogdill. “By three-quarters of a mile into it, it was Rebecca and Meredith (Gentry of Des Moines Roosevelt–who is ranked 12th). Gentry is a veteran runner who nearly won the Ames meet three weeks ago, but Rebecca seized the lead at about 1.75 miles into the race and widened the gap thereafter.”
The fourth-ranked Jaguars entered only four girls in the varsity race and thus did not compile a team score. Greta DenHartog placed 22nd in 21:41 in her first varsity race of the season.
“We had a good night of racing,” Cogdill said. “Greta turned in a solid performance. Both she and Rebecca have soccer in Wisconsin this weekend and won’t be with us Saturday (when the Jaguars compete in the Rim Rock Farm Classic at Lawrence, Kan.).
Centennial’s Shannon Frommelt placed 31st in 22:39. Marley Phares took 38th in 23:25.
“Shannon and Marley are younger girls from our second training pod, and they both had their varsity debuts,” Cogdill said. “The highlight there was Shannon running a lifetime best on the very challenging course filled with rolling hills.”
No. 11 Norwalk won the girls’ title with 35 points. The Warriors placed five runners among the top 14 finishers.
Centennial placed sixth among 14 teams in the boys’ division. The No. 8 Jaguars scored 183 points.
Gilbert, the No. 1 team in Class 3A, claimed its second straight crown with 39 points. No. 13 Norwalk was second with 48.
Gilbert’s Logan Bleich won the race in a time of 15:48. He finished 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Teegan Kralik of Norwalk.
Brecken Allen placed 12th in 16:52 to lead the Jaguars, who rested most of their varsity lineup. Maxwell Curnyn was 31st in 17:46.
Benjamin Nelson took 37th in 17:57. Blake Bybee placed 47th in 18:21, Isaac Porter was 56th in 18:43, Shawn Harris took 58th in 18:51, and Jonas Robinson finished 61st in 18:57.
After the Centennial girls’ team competes in Saturday’s meet, both Jaguar squads will head to the Knoxville Invitational on Tuesday at Pine Knolls Golf Club.
“We think we can finish top seven on Saturday even without Rebecca,” Cogdill said.