It was a very busy weekend for the Ankeny Centennial girls’ track team.
The Jaguars competed at three different meets in a span of 24 hours.
“This was a tough weather week with multiple meets being either cancelled or postponed, but our athletes made the best of it and had a great night on Friday,” said Centennial coach Tyler Asbe. “We split our squad and sent some athletes to Waukee Northwest and some to Woodward-Granger in order to get as many athletes opportunities as possible. We also had to then look at what athletes were competing at the Jim Duncan Invitational on Saturday so we didn’t overload anyone. Our athletes handled all the changes this week very well and took advantage of every opportunity to compete.”
On Saturday, the Jaguars placed fourth in the sprint medley relay in the meet at Drake Stadium. The foursome of Taylor Gilbreaith, Bella Buesch, Anna Woods and Aly Balashaitis was clocked in 1:49.94, the fourth-fastest time in school history.
Buesch later placed third in the 200 in 26.82 seconds.
“We were happy the rain held off and allowed us to get a full day of competition in,” Asbe said. “Our sprint medley got us off to a good start and dipped under 1:50. It was chilly when that race started and not the best sprinting conditions so we were excited that our group was able to compete at a high level and put a good time out there.”
Centennial took seventh in the shuttle hurdle relay. The team of Ava Barten, Siena Peddicord, Gilbreaith and Woods posted a time of 1:08.43.
Sammi Maile placed 10th in the 1,500 in 4:53.32.
“Our distance athletes had a great day and had many PRs and season bests,” Asbe said. “Sammi had a 23-second PR in her race. She has been really improving lately and had an amazing race.
“Overall, we are very happy with how our team competed at the end of a busy week. We are seeing great things from all of our event groups,” he added.
Lillian Anderson placed 16th in the discus with a throw of 101 feet 5 inches. Elise Benning also surpassed the 100-foot mark for the first time during Friday’s meet at Northwest.
“Our throwers are having a great season and are collectively seeing a ton of improvement,” Asbe said.
Also at Northwest, the Jaguars set a school record in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:43.80. The quartet of Woods, Barten, Buesch and Balashaitis also met the Blue Oval standard for the Drake Relays.
“We were really happy for this group!” Asbe said. “It’s always fun to see a school record get broken, and this is a veteran group of sprinters who had a really strong performance together.”
Ellie Blevins and Natalie Cogdill hit the Blue Oval standard in the 3,000.
“They are both really finding their rhythm and being able to work together in these races is so beneficial for them,” Asbe said. ” It’s exciting to see things clicking and their times improving each week.”
Centennial will compete in the Jim Duea Relays on Tuesday at Ames.
