A year ago, the Ankeny Centennial boys’ cross country team didn’t even qualify for the Class 4A state meet.
On Saturday, the Jaguars found themselves on the awards podium following this year’s meet at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge. They placed third with 157 points, by far the highest finish in school history.
Centennial’s previous best was a ninth-place finish in 2020.
“We knew we had it in us,” said an elated Centennial coach Chad Fickbohm. “We just needed to put it together, and we finally did. Hat’s off to the guys. You have to do it on the right day, and they did.”
Centennial had dropped to 12th in the final rankings from the Iowa Association of Track Coaches after placing third in a state qualifying meet on Oct. 22 at Council Bluffs. But the Jaguars were determined to save their best race for last.
“We set that as our goal after last week,” junior Jax Alvarez said of a podium finish. “We knew it was going to be hard, but you don’t set goals that aren’t hard. You don’t want it to be easy.”
Top-ranked Indianola won the state title with 102 points. The Indians edged No. 2 Cedar Falls by two points to prevent the Tigers from defending their crown.
The Jaguars finished seven points ahead of No. 4 Cedar Rapids Prairie. The Hawks placed three runners in the top 20, but could not match Centennial’s depth.
“It’s amazing,” said Centennial senior Cohen Moll. “It’s just so nice knowing that the whole season with all of our ups and downs and bad days and good days all led to our overall goal for the season. I’m really happy with it. I think we all are.”
Top-ranked Jaden Merrick of Cedar Falls won the 5K race in a time of 14 minutes 54.6 seconds. He had been the runner-up behind Ankeny’s Ethan Zuber in each of the previous two seasons.
Three other runners also broke the 15-minute barrier, which prior to Saturday had only been eclipsed three times in the history of the meet.
“I wasn’t really too focused on the pace,” Moll said. “I was just focusing on position, and I think I got the job done.”
Moll earned a spot on the awards podium as an individual by placing 14th in the field of 130 runners. He posted a time of 15:45.5.
“That was an individual goal that I had,” Moll said. “Obviously, the overall goal was to have me and the boys come out with a podium finish. I could have placed 30th as long as we got that top-three spot, it would have been worth it.”
Moll placed just ahead of the Prairie trio of Kyle Johnson, Cole Carrizales and Owen Miller, who all crossed the finish line within the next 4 seconds and took 15th, 16th and 18th, respectively. If Moll had finished behind that threesome, it would have resulted in a seven-point swing that would have allowed Prairie to earn the third-place trophy on a tiebreaker.
“We’ve been preaching getting out and beating people around us,” Fickbohm said. “That’s what the guys did today. They finished really hard in the chute. It was a great day.”
Alvarez placed 28th for the Jaguars in a time of 16:02.4. He finished less than a second behind Isaiah Smith of Ankeny, who took 27th.
“I wasn’t very sure of it,” Alvarez said of his finish, although he matched his No. 28 ranking. “I really don’t know where I was in the race or where I should have been, but I’m just so happy for the team.”
Centennial’s Davis Johnson placed 43rd in a time of 16:14.1. Ian Smith took 50th in 16:17.8, and Brecken Allen was the team’s fifth scoring runner with a 77th-place finish in 16:39.4.
Levi Odson placed 124th for the Jaguars in 17:40.2. Jack Behrens finished 126th in 17:44.8.
“It’s definitely nice having a redemption year after last year,” Moll said. “Going from having only two people qualify to a podium finish as a team just shows how far we’ve come.”
Fickbohm credited the team’s improvement to a lot of hard work in the offseason.
“Last year was a big disappointment, and they set their goals for this meet,” Fickbohm said. “They were all in, and we had positive, fun leadership during the offseason training and the training during track. And here we are now.
“We’re going to enjoy this one,” he added.
Alvarez was almost in disbelief at what his team had accomplished.
“It’s so crazy,” he said. “I give all of this to God. There’s no way we could have done any of this without God behind us the entire summer. This was our goal. This is what we were reaching for, and God got us there. That’s all it is.”
