The Ankeny girls’ swimming team managed to drop some time in all three of the relays at the state meet on Friday in Iowa City, but it wasn’t enough to propel the squad to higher finishes in those events.
In the end, Ankeny finished 27th overall with 17 points. The team had placed 29th a year ago with nine points.
Ankeny opened the meet at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center with an 11th-place finish in the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Madi Trosper, Allie Kearney, Charlie Villhauer and Abigail Brugman posted a time of 1:52.62.
The Hawkettes were seeded ninth in that event after turning in a clocking of 1:52.97 at Saturday’s regional meet.
Cedar Falls won the race in a time of 1:44.99, edging Dowling Catholic by .49 seconds. Both teams earned all-American consideration.
Ankeny later closed out the meet with an 18th-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Maggie Blackmore, Trosper, Avery Anderson and Villhauer turned in a time of 3:44.72, which included a 54.69 anchor leg by Villhauer.
The Hawkettes also finished two spots below their seed in that event. They had posted a clocking of 3:45.52 at the regional meet.
“We had a little pep talk before the 400 free relay,” said Blackmore. “We all agreed to give it our absolute all since it’s the last race of the meet and the last race of Madi’s career, so watching everyone do their part was super exciting to watch.”
Dowling won the 400 freestyle relay in a time of 3:27.78, earning automatic all-American honors. The victory punctuated the Maroons’ second consecutive team title.
Dowling finished with 340 points, 76 more than runner-up Cedar Falls. Waukee Northwest took third with 250 points.
Earlier, Ankeny dropped less than a second in the 200 freestyle relay as well, but was disqualified in that event. The team of Blackmore, Trosper, Brugman and Allie Breuner posted a time of 1:42.01 that would have placed 14th if it had counted.
The Hawkettes, who were seeded 12th in that relay after swimming a time of 1:42.55 at the regional meet, had a disqualification for the second year in a row. They were DQ’d in the medley relay last season.
“Of course getting DQ’d is always a little disappointing, but we had the 400 free relay not too long after so we had to focus on that too,” Blackmore said. “The DQ was a super close call so we didn’t expect it either.”
Northwest won the 200 freestyle relay in a time of 1:35.12, earning automatic all-American honors.
Villhauer also competed in the “B” final of the 100 butterfly. The sophomore placed 12th overall with a time of 1:00.17.
Villhauer swam the event for the third time in 24 hours. She posted a time of 59.15 seconds during Friday’s preliminaries, then set a personal best of 58.37 when she was forced to have a swim-off against Addison Oelke of Sioux City West for the last qualifying spot in the “A” final.
Northwest’s Hayden Bailey won the event in 54.80, finishing more than a second ahead of runner-up Leah Mason of Cedar Falls. Bailey earned all-American consideration.
Although Trosper will graduate, the rest of Ankeny’s state qualifiers will be back next season.
“I think we’re really going to improve for next year and have a great time just like we did this year,” Anderson said.