In a final tune-up before the start of championship season, the Ankeny track teams turned in some strong performances on Friday at the Valley Quadrangular.
The Ankeny boys’ squad placed second with 51 points behind Valley, which finished with 54. Only the seven relay events were scored in both divisions.
The Ankeny girls’ team, meanwhile, took fourth with 30 points. Waukee Northwest claimed the girls’ crown with 56 points.
“We are making progress,” said Ankeny girls’ coach TJ Jumper. “As coaches we were worried coming off the high emotions and excitement of Drake along with prom this weekend that we would be a little flat. But we had multiple PR performances, and the team’s confidence keeps increasing.”
The Hawks won four events, including three relays. Hayden Carlson took the 110 hurdles in 13.81 seconds, while Sam Madsen placed third in that event in 14.35.
Carlson and Madsen also teamed up with Jack Romig and Norman Ha to capture the shuttle hurdle relay. Ankeny was clocked in 58.16 seconds.
The foursome of Tristan Cresta, Quin Somers, Kaiden Chavez and Gideon Miller won the distance medley relay. The Hawks posted a time of 3:45.85.
Ankeny also won the 4×100 relay. The quartet of Finn McClure, Owen Fischer, Cooper McDowell and Treyton Grossman turned in a time of 42.84 seconds.
The Hawkettes had three victories on the night. They closed out the meet with a win in the 4×400 relay, where Lillian Buckley, Gillian Schramm, Makenna Madetzke and Morgan Fisher teamed up to post a time of 4:00.51.
Fisher added a second-place finish in the 200, posting a school-record time of 24.54. Teammate Lena Bruening was third in 24.95.
“Not only are they first and second on our school’s all-time performance list, but they moved into the second and fourth fastest 200s in the state so far this year,” Jumper said.
Bruening took the long jump with a leap of 18 feet 7 inches. Maliya Cobb won the discus with a throw of 122-8.
“We are really excited with Maliya’s consistency,” Jumper said.
Gwyn Christensen placed second in the shot put with a toss of 37-1.5. Emerson Hutchins was third in that event at 35-7.5.
Mila Badillo was the runner-up in the high jump. She cleared the bar at 5 feet.
Charlee Cibula took fourth in the 400 in 1:01.55. Schramm finished fourth in the 800 in a personal-best time of 2:23.78.
“The assistant coaches have done an amazing job with training, supporting each athlete to have the right mindset, and ensuring each athlete improves,” Jumper said. “We have a high standard of expectations, our focus is on developing our athletes, and the assistant coaches are a major part of that development process. So tonight to see some of that development was an awesome feeling.”
The Hawks got a runner-up finish from Isaiah Swanson in the 800. He was clocked in 1:58.26.
Fischer placed fourth in the 200 in 22.35. Nathan Lee took fourth in the shot put at 47-4.
Both teams will compete in the CIML Conference meet on Thursday. The boys’ meet will be held at Northwest, while the girls’ meet will be held at Johnston.
