Ankeny sophomore Charlie Villhauer punched her ticket to the girls’ state swimming meet with a fifth-place finish in the 100 butterfly on Saturday in the Johnston Invitational at Summit Middle School.
Villhauer posted an automatic state qualifying time of 59.48 seconds, dropping more than 2 seconds off her previous season-best of 1:01.54. She had been ranked 27th in the state in that event, but according to gobound.com would now move up to 14th.
“We are just really happy for her and proud of her as she works so hard, and now can just take a deep breath knowing she is already in the state meet,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Rhoads.
Villhauer helped Ankeny to a fifth-place finish in the 12-team field. The seventh-ranked Hawkettes, whose overall record is now 14-10, scored 159 points.
No. 1 Dowling Catholic captured the team title with 375 points. No. 2 Waukee Northwest was the runner-up with 226.
Ankeny battled for third place throughout the meet with No. 20 Council Bluffs Lewis Central and No. 5 Johnston. The Titans placed third in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, to finish with 173 points–five more than the host Dragons.
“It was good to compete at this meet,” Rhoads said. “This was kind of a simulation of what the regional meet will be like in four weeks so it was good for us. We put together a pretty strong lineup, and our coaches were able to get more data.”
Ankeny got a pair of top-eight finishes from Maggie Blackmore, Avery Anderson, Piper Hedrick and Madi Trosper.
Blackmore placed seventh in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:03.67. She then took sixth in the 100 freestyle in 57.69 seconds.
Trosper finished right behind Blackmore in the 100 freestyle, placing seventh in 58.02. She earlier took sixth in the 50 freestyle in 26.20.
Anderson placed eighth in the 200 freestyle in 2:07.75. She later took sixth in the 500 freestyle in 5:40.28.
Hedrick contributed two eighth-place finishes. She posted times of 2:24.22 in the 200 individual medley and 5:42.85 in the 500 freestyle.
Kylee Stone earned a seventh-place finish in the 100 backstroke. She was clocked in 1:05.94.
Ankeny also got an eighth-place finish from Kambelle Subbert in the diving event. She scored 307.60 points.
“The divers started off the day really strong with some season PRs for 11 dives,” Rhoads said.
The Hawkettes opened the swimming portion of the meet with a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Trosper, Allie Kearney, Villhauer and Abigail Brugman posted a time of 1:57.13.
Blackmore later anchored Ankeny to a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. She teamed up with Villhauer, Brugman and Trosper to post a time of 1:44.68.
The Hawkettes ended the meet with a fourth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. The quartet of Villhauer, Blackmore, Adi Dee and Kearney was clocked in 3:52.91.
“Our swims were all across the board and it has been a really long week with three meets, but I am proud of how we competed,” Rhoads said.
Ankeny will host Southeast Polk on Tuesday in its final CIML Conference dual meet. It will be the Hawkettes’ Senior Night.
“We are looking forward to honoring our three seniors at our last regular-season meet of the season!” Rhoads said.
