Despite two wins from Bryer Pearson and another from Jake Smith, the eighth-ranked Ankeny boys’ swimming team dropped a 95-75 decision to No. 5 Valley on Tuesday at Trail Point Aquatics Center.
The Tigers won eight of the 11 events to improve to 2-0 in the CIML Conference and 7-2-1 overall. Ankeny’s records dropped to 0-2 and 4-6.
“We battled a very good Valley squad,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Rhoads. “I was really proud of our guys for how they competed.”
Pearson won the 100 butterfly in 52.41 seconds. He later took the 100 backstroke in 56.70, edging Valley’s Will Van Zee by .18 seconds in the closest race of the night.
Smith, meanwhile, outdueled Valley’s Eli DeJong to win the 500 freestyle in a time of 4:55.49. DeJong was the runner-up in 4:55.84.
The two competitors were never separated by more than a second. Smith took a narrow lead on the third 50-yard lap and extended the margin on the fifth lap, then eventually held off DeJong in the final 100 yards.
Smith had earlier placed second behind DeJong in the 200 freestyle, where he lost by about 6 seconds. He posted a time of 1:51.23 in that event.
“Again, it was kind of the same story as the Waukee meet (on Dec. 4),” Rhoads said. “We did not win enough events to stay up with them, but I thought a lot of guys stepped up and helped our depth and kept the team score close.”
Noah Kearney placed second in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:09.10. He later took third in the backstroke in 58.44.
Landon Wisehart was the runner-up in the 100 breaststroke. He was clocked in 1:07.31.
Jack Walsh and Miles Harbert each placed third in a pair of events. Walsh posted times of 2:10.91 in the 200 IM and 5:18.45 in the 500 freestyle, while Harbert turned in times of 23.77 and 52.01 in the 50 and 100 freestyle events.
Wilson Pous-Ojeda placed third in the 200 freestyle in 1:55.19. Sam Howard took third in the butterfly in 58.75.
Ankeny opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Kearney, Wisehart, Pearson and Ike Evans was clocked in 1:42.01.
Wisehart later anchored Ankeny to a runner-up finish in the 400 freestyle relay. He teamed up with Smith, Pous-Ojeda and Harbert to post a time of 3:26.73.
“We have entered the challenging part of the season for the next month where training is very hard, but we have all of these meets as well,” Rhoads said. “This group has been very fun to work with and they are improving at a lot of things, even if the scoreboard doesn’t always show that. We just have to find ways to keep getting better, and even though we lost tonight it was good for us.”
Ankeny will host another conference dual meet on Thursday when Johnston visits Trail Point Aquatics Center.
“I know the guys will be excited for Thursday,” Rhoads said. “It is our Senior Night so we expect them to perform well.”
