The Ankeny Centennial girls’ track team closed out Tuesday’s Southeast Polk Invitational with its eighth victory of the night.
The Jaguars won the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:59.41, allowing them to meet the Drake Relays Blue Oval standard. The team consisted of Aly Balashaitis, Rebecca Flick, Teagan Jackson and Ava Barten.
“This group came into the meet with the goal of achieving the Blue Oval standard and ran a gutsy race to dip under the 4:00 mark and crush that goal,” said Centennial coach Tyler Asbe. “This is a group with a lot of big meet experience, and it was great for (Flick) to join them and experience this race.”
Centennial placed second overall in the eight-team field with 189.5 points. Southeast Polk won the team title with 210 points.
“It was another windy evening for a good portion of the meet, but everyone on our team competed hard and we had a successful night,” Asbe said. “Our JV team has been performing really well and won their second straight meet. We have a lot of depth, and it speaks volumes to the way our athletes train and push each other no matter what level they are competing at.”
Flick won the 800 with a time of 2:23.58. Teammate Cate Benning was third in that event in 2:34.37.
Ellie Blevins captured the 1,500 in 4:44.01. Natalie Cogdill was the runner-up behind Blevins in 4:59.51, while Piper Klingner was second in the 3,000 in 11:50.81.
“Ellie ran a huge PR in the 1,500 and just missed the Blue Oval standard,” Asbe said. “She has had a great start to the track season to follow up on a very successful cross country season. We are excited to see her continue to progress this spring.”
Barten took the 400 hurdles in 1:07.88. Balashaitis placed third in the 200 in 25.89.
Lois Kopf placed second in the 400 in 1:04.43. Teammate Ellie Pollock was third in that event in 1:05.07.
Anna Woods tied for first in the high jump, clearing the bar at 5 feet 2 inches. Jackson was the runner-up in the long jump with a leap of 16-4.5.
Bella Anderson placed second in the discus. She recorded a throw of 111-6.
The Jaguars won three other relays, including a narrow victory in the distance medley relay. In that race, the foursome of Audrey Sandholm, Aubrey Mohr, Bailey Snyder and Kaelyn Rinehart posted a time of 4:29.89 to edge Southeast Polk by .05 seconds.
Centennial took the 4×800 relay in a time of 10:24.24. That team consisted of Trinity Klingensmith, Benning, Kaiah Starr and Sammi Maile.
The Jaguars also captured the 4×200 relay in 1:50.60. Both Teagan and Jaeden Jackson ran on that relay along with Aly Drefke and Morgan Erwin.