Thursday’s Fort Dodge Invitational offered a little bit of a preview of next month’s state cross country meet, which will also be held at Lakeside Golf Course.
Both the Ankeny Centennial and Ankeny boys’ teams are hoping to be back in Fort Dodge on Nov. 1. And Thursday’s meet was another step forward in potentially meeting that goal.
The eighth-ranked Jaguars placed fourth in the 27-team field with 124 points. The top six teams were separated by just 37 points.
The Centennial trio of Cohen Moll, Jax Alvarez and Davis Johnson led the way by placing among the top 17 finishers in the 5K race.
“Having Jax and Davis not far behind me is a great sign knowing that all three of us are capable of competing against some of the top guys in the state,” said Moll.
Ankeny, meanwhile, earned a 12th-place finish. The Hawks scored 333 points.
“We had probably our best meet of the season last week at Wartburg and followed that up with another really solid day at Fort Dodge,” said Ankeny coach Jon Lindaman. “Our team has just been so shorthanded each race this year it has been really hard to meet our team goals. I am really proud of the resiliency and positive mindset these guys have shown through all this. We have been without three or four of our top runners each meet this season, because of sickness and injury, and this meet was no different. Being down four varsity guys and racing a really tough field, I think our guys responded really well.”
Top-ranked Indianola won the team title with 92 points. No. 4 Dallas Center-Grimes was second with 110, followed by No. 14 Johnston with 113.
Kuma Gutema of Sioux City North won the race in a time of 15:17. He finished 7 seconds ahead of Johnston’s Jack Crossland.
Cohen Moll placed ninth for the Jaguars in 16:07. Alvarez was 13th in 16:10, and Johnson finished 17th in 16:15.
“I think I ran a decent race,” Moll said. “I think not racing for two weeks had an effect on how I ran, but I’m not the one to make excuses.”
Centennial’s Brecken Allen placed 42nd in 16:50 and finished just ahead of teammate Ian Smith, who took 43rd in 16:51. Jack Behrens placed 76th in 17:10, and Levi Odson finished 108th in 17:37.
Isaiah Smith led Ankeny with a 21st-place finish. He was clocked in 16:24.
“I am so proud of Ike and how he has been so disciplined and worked so hard in his return from a pretty nasty case of mono,” Lindaman said. “He will continue to get a little stronger each race.”
Brett Augustine took 47th for the Hawks in 16:52.
“Brett has been so darn consistent for us,” Lindaman said. “We know we will get his best effort each time out. It has been so fun watching him race.”
Ankeny’s Benton Schuchart placed 86th in 17:18. Logan Rolling took 96th in 17:27, Isaiah Swanson was 102nd in 17:33, Cody Banks placed 106th in 17:34, Jackson Schulz was 140th in 18:06, and Gideon Miller finished 149th in 18:12.
“Benton and Logan do such a great job working together, and both are such smart racers. They have both improved so much,” Lindaman said. “Isaiah had a really nice bounce-back race after not running how he wanted to last week. His growth from last year to this year has been impressive. These young guys are getting some really good varsity experience which will only help them down the road. Gideon, Cody and Jackson all had fantastic races stepping in to varsity roles. I was very proud of how those guys competed.”
Both teams will compete in the CIML Conference meet on Wednesday at Johnston.