The ninth-ranked Ankeny boys’ swimming team relied on its depth to post a 94-76 victory at No. 11 Southeast Polk on Thursday.
The Rams won six of the 11 events, but Ankeny had seven runner-up finishes, 10 third-place finishes and swept the top three places in the 200 individual medley to earn the win.
Coach Dustin Rhoads’ team improved to 2-3 in the CIML Conference and 11-8 overall, while Southeast Polk’s records dropped to 0-5 and 16-9.
“We had a great bounce back meet tonight as a team,” said Rhoads. “I was really proud of the boys’ efforts. Southeast Polk has a really good team this year, so we knew we had to be at our best–especially at their pool.”
Ankeny’s Jake Smith won a pair of individual events. He captured the 100 freestyle in 48.67 seconds and took the 500 freestyle in a time of 5:05.17.
Smith then teamed up with Noah Kearney, Miles Harbert and Ike Evans to win the 200 freestyle relay in 1:31.45.
“Jake had to do three straight events which is so hard to do, but it was what our team needed as he won them all for us,” Rhoads said.
Jack Walsh won the 200 IM in 2:03.54, leading his team’s 1-2-3 sweep. Kearney was second in 2:06.07, while Wisehart finished third in 2:08.29.
“The seniors were great and very motivated to win, and I thought Jack, Miles and Landon had big swims for us,” Rhoads said. “It took everyone to get the team win.”
Bryer Pearson won the 100 butterfly in 52.30 seconds. Walsh was the runner-up in that event in 56.04.
Pearson earlier took second in the 50 freestyle. He was clocked in 22.82 seconds.
Wilson Pous-Ojeda placed second in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:52.22. Kearney later took second in the 100 backstroke in 57.58.
“We talked as a team about how it would take everyone’s best effort to win, and the boys responded with our best meet overall as a team this season,” Rhoads said. “That was the team I know, and it was awesome to see the boys swim like what they are capable of. Everyone from top to bottom, coaches included, were better than we were on Tuesday (at Dowling Catholic). Hopefully, we can carry this momentum with us to our final dual meets next week and into the postseason which is quickly approaching!”
Ankeny will host a conference dual meet against No. 1 Waukee Northwest on Thursday at Trail Point Aquatics Center. The Wolves are 3-0 in the league and 10-0 overall.