Both the Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial boys’ track teams turned in some strong performances in the Early Bird Relays on Thursday at Waukee Northwest.
Six squads competed in the meet, which was unscored.
“We saw some really nice races,” said Ankeny coach Jordan Mullen. “We had a lot of early season PRs, which is really exciting. I believe as a team we competed very hard and have a lot of excitement moving forward!”
Centennial coach Nate Smith was just happy to have another outdoor meet–despite the windy conditions.
“We took advantage of the wind in some events, and it impacted some others,” said Smith. “But anytime we can run outside in March, it’s a plus.”
Ankeny got a victory from Hayden Carlson in the 110 hurdles. He posted a time of 14.07 seconds.
“Hayden ran a very nice opener after almost going down over the third hurdle because of some contact from other lanes,” Mullen said.
The Hawks won two other events–the distance medley and 4×400 relays. Isaiah Smith ran the anchor leg for both units.
Smith teamed up with Owen Fischer, Treyton Grossman and Caden McDowell to win the distance medley in a time of 3:34.82. The Hawks finished more than 11 seconds ahead of the runner-up squad from Centennial.
“That team looked really strong, and I was very happy with the way they competed having to run that time out by ourselves!” Mullen said. “We had a couple hiccups, but I was very happy to see our team rise above those and come back and compete! To cap the night off the 4×4 had a big come-from-behind win. I told them we wanted to end the night on a high note, and they did just that! I’m very excited for that relay this year!”
Logan Peterson, McDowell and Quin Somers joined Smith on the 4×400 relay. That team was clocked in 3:29.82, while the Centennial foursome of Brecken Allen, Sawyer Goble, Kyler Jones and Cohen Moll took second in 3:31.04.
The Jaguars earlier edged their crosstown rival to win the 4×100 relay. The team of Noah Ross, Heisman Dickinson, James Naert and Jones won the race in 43.60 seconds.
The Ankeny quartet of Fischer, Cooper McDowell, Grossman and Finn McClure was clocked in 43.71.
Ross also placed second in the 100 in 10.61. McClure finished third in 10.84.
“Finn ran an outstanding 100, dipping under 11 and running a big personal best!” Mullen said.
Centennial also got a runner-up finish from Treyce Young in the 200. He posted a time of 22.49.
The Hawks got second-place finishes from Benton Schuchart in the 3,200 (10:38.00) and Harrison Truman in the 400 hurdles (1:00.73).
“It was a very good opening meet all the way around,” Mullen said. “Now we are going to continue to build our team one meet at a time and focus on the Hawks.”
Ankeny will compete in the Ames Expo meet on Monday. Centennial will go to the Ram Relays on Thursday at Southeast Polk.
