Earlier in the week, the forecast called for temperatures in the 70s on Thursday afternoon.
But those weren’t the conditions that greeted the Ankeny Centennial girls’ track team when the Jaguars arrived at Johnston for the Dragon Invitational.
“The weather wasn’t ideal with high winds and dropping temperatures,” said Centennial coach Tyler Asbe. “Our whole team showed toughness and competed well, and we were very happy with their effort. It was a good mental toughness meet where effort and attitude mattered more than the race results.”
Seven teams competed in the unscored meet. Centennial won two events and had several other top-four finishes.
Teagan Jackson won the long jump with a leap of 15 feet 10.5 inches. Teammate Audrey Sandholm jumped 15-5 to place second.
The Jaguars’ other victory came in the 4×100 relay. The foursome of Anna Woods, Aly Drefke, Aly Balashaitis and Bella Buesch posted a time of 51.24 seconds.
Balashaitis was the runner-up in the 200 in 26.35. She was edged by Brylynn Petek of Johnston by .01 seconds.
Balashaitis also anchored the second-place sprint medley relay. She teamed up with Morgan Erwin, Buesch and Ava Barten to post a time of 1:54.60.
Woods tied for second in the high jump at 5-3. She also placed third in the 100 hurdles in 15.04, while Barten took fourth in that event in 15.31.
Barten also teamed up with Kaelyn Rinehart, Jaeden Jackson and Teagan Jackson to place second in the 4×400 relay. Centennial was clocked in 4:18.04.
The Jaguars added a third-place finish in the distance medley relay. The quartet of Sandholm, Aubrey Mohr, Camille Banowetz and Kaiah Starr posted a time of 4:54.76.
Centennial also got a fourth-place finish from Lillian Anderson in the shot put. She had a throw of 33-2.
“Having a tough meet early will hopefully allow our athletes to feel confident when we have better conditions to compete in,” Asbe said. “We had most of our team competing so it was good to all be together and have our leaders be able to help our younger athletes get comfortable with their first high school track meet.”
The Jaguars will compete in the Sherwood Relays on Saturday at Iowa City High.