Coming off one of the best seasons in school history, the Ankeny Centennial boys’ track team will be looking to have another banner year in 2026.
But it won’t be easy.
Many of the standouts from last year’s squad graduated, leaving some big holes in the team’s lineup.
“We want to find events for individuals to make the biggest impact,” said Centennial coach Nate Smith.
The Jaguars placed fourth in last year’s Class 4A state meet with 61 points. It was the second-highest finish in school history, surpassed only by a third-place finish in 2021.
Centennial also won five team titles during the season, including the CIML Conference crown for its second league championship ever. Noah Ross ran on both the winning 4×200 and sprint medley relays.
Ross then went on to have an outstanding state meet, where he helped the Jaguars to a pair of titles in the 4×100 and 4×200 relays. He also ran on the third-place sprint medley relay.
Centennial defended its crown in the 4×200 while posting the second-fastest time ever (1:25.63). The Jaguars ran an all-time Iowa best of 41.18 seconds during the preliminaries of the 4×100.
Ross is one of the team’s returning state qualifiers. Among the others are Jack Behrens, Devin Boyle, Caleb Larson, Gavin Matheny, Cohen Moll and Nic Ryan.
Boyle, Matheny and Ryan all ran on the 11th-place shuttle hurdle relay. The Jaguars posted a time of 1:01.36 in that event.
Larson was a state qualifier in the discus. He placed 19th with a throw of 136 feet 2 inches.
Smith is excited about the potential of his distance runners. Behrens and Moll both ran on the Centennial boys’ cross country team that placed third in the Class 4A state meet last fall.
“(Assistant) coach (Mike) Gettemy has the distance crew peaking at the right time,” Smith said. “That group is led by four of our seniors–Moll, Behrens, (Davis) Johnson and (Ian) Smith.”
Moll has also had a lot of success on the track. He placed 17th in the 1,600 at last year’s state meet, posting a time of 4:18.25.
Moll ran the anchor leg for the ninth-place distance medley relay that was clocked in 3:29.29. He also joined Behrens on the ninth-place 4×800 relay that posted a time of 7:54.60.
Brecken Allen, Sawyer Goble, Kyler Jones and Treyce Young are among some others that Smith expects to play a big role this season.
“We have a lot of guys who can contribute, but it’ll be important for us to stay healthy,” Smith said.
Centennial has already competed in three meets–one of them outdoors. The Jaguars won four relays in the “Beat the Freeze” meet on March 10 at Southeast Polk.
Two days later, Centennial won the 4×400 relay at the ISU Indoor Meet in Ames. Goble and Jones teamed up with Heisman Dickinson and Ryne Adams to post a time of 3:31.37.
The Jaguars also got runner-up finishes from Ross in the 60 (6.90) and Moll in the 1,600 (4:24.18).
Centennial will compete in the Early Bird Relays on Thursday at Waukee Northwest.