On a night when the Waukee Northwest girls’ track team easily captured its third consecutive CIML Conference title, there was no reason for Ankeny or Ankeny Centennial to load up its lineup in Thursday’s meet at Johnston.
There are two more important meets coming up.
“I’m just in two events tonight,” said standout Ankeny sprinter Morgan Fisher. “It’s just a good meet to get us going into the championship part of our season.”
Northwest racked up 194.5 points, more than twice as many as any other team. Centennial placed second with 88.5 points, while Ankeny finished third with 86.
“This was our last chance to have our full team together for the season, and our athletes had a blast,” said Centennial coach Tyler Asbe. “We have such a strong team culture, and it’s fun watching these kids support each other regardless of event group or talent level. Conference is also our last chance to see certain relay combinations or athletes in certain events leading into the postseason. We saw some nice things tonight that make our path forward more clear.”
The Hawkettes won five events, including a sweep of the jumping events.
“We were extremely happy with our performances overall,” said Ankeny coach TJ Jumper. “We are very purposeful about our training and about our approach to meets. We have to balance where we are with our training with emphasis on state in two weeks and the placement of the conference meet. Our focus for conference was to focus on a few areas and get some work in, then get ready for state qualifying next week. Most of our athletes only did two events as we didn’t want to overload them because they will have a heavy load over the next two weeks.”
Centennial’s lone victory came in the 3,000, where Natalie Cogdill posted a time of 10:21.07. The Jaguars placed second in three events and took third in three others.
“We were really happy with the way our team competed,” said Asbe, whose team set four more school records. “Both varsity and JV had a very strong night, and our depth was on full display.”
Ankeny closed out the meet with a narrow victory in the 4×400 relay. The foursome of Lena Bruening, Lilly Buckley, Gillian Schramm and Fisher was clocked in 3:55.24, edging Northwest by .50 seconds.
“We were able to get Lilly back to full speed after recovering from an injury, and she had a super night,” Jumper said.
Fisher, a sophomore, earlier captured the 400 in 55.26 seconds. She won the 200 as a freshman.
“I’m so happy,” Fisher said. “I’m very happy with the time. It’s close to my PR.”
Teammate Makenna Madetzke took the 800 in a time of 2:12.82. The Drake Relays champion finished .32 seconds ahead of Northwest’s Emee Dani, who had taken the lead on the homestretch.
“It feels good to get another one,” said Madetzke, who won the 3,000 at last year’s conference meet. “We tried to ramp it up a little bit after Drake just to get some harder work in, because for district and state you don’t want to do anything hard on the legs. Today we kind of risked me not feeling the best just so we could get a little more work in.”
Centennial’s Becci Flick placed third in the event in 2:14.81. The Drake runner-up tried to take the lead with about 200 meters left, but Madetzke was able to hold her off.
“Coming off of Drake, I know for a lot of them I’m like their pinpoint to stick with and to try to push,” Madetzke said. “I knew they were all going to be coming after me a little bit so I just had to be confident in my own abilities and know that I want to win it at the end of the day.”
Madetzke later placed second in the 1,500 with a time of 4:35.77, breaking her own school record. However, she was outkicked by Emmy Stubbendeck of Northwest, who earned the victory in 4:35.63.
Ankeny’s Mila Badillo won the high jump with a leap of 5 feet 4 inches. Piper Ladwig of Northwest and Tabitha Molden of Johnston also cleared the bar at 5-4, but Badillo claimed the title based on fewer misses.
“It feels great, especially after the last meet when I had a pretty bad meet compared to my other ones. I’m pretty happy with my jumps today,” Badillo said. “I just had to figure some things out. I had pretty bad anxiety this whole season, but I feel like this meet I was a lot calmer because I was controlling my breathing. I really keyed into the mental aspect of it, and I definitely think that helps me a lot.”
Badillo became Ankeny’s fourth consecutive conference champion in the high jump. Former teammate Reagan Hanfelt won the previous three crowns and went on to win the Class 4A title as a senior.
“I definitely think I have a good chance to get (to the state meet) and actually place,” Badillo said.
Bruening won the long jump with a leap of 18 feet 2.5 inches. She also placed fourth in the 100 in 12.46 seconds.
The Hawkettes got a pair of third-place finishes in the throwing events. Maliya Cobb recorded a toss of 122-11 in the discus, while Emerson Hutchins had a throw of 37-10 in the shot put.
Centennial also performed well in the field events. Teagan Jackson was the runner-up in the long jump at 16-7.75, Anna Woods tied for fourth in the high jump at 5-2, and Bella Anderson finished fourth in the discus at 120-11.
Ava Barten placed second for the Jaguars in the 400 hurdles. She posted a time of 1:04.61.
Aly Balashaitis took third in the 200 in 25.48, while Ellie Blevins was fourth in the 1,500 in 4:37.65. They both set a school record.
Centennial added a third-place finish in the sprint medley relay. The quartet of Siena Peddicord, Woods, Barten and Balashaitis posted a time of 1:47.46, which broke the school record.
Barten, Peddicord and Woods also teamed up with Taylor Gilbreaith for a fourth-place finish in the shuttle hurdle relay. The Jaguars posted a time of 1:03.01, which set another school record.
“Our team has now set 12 school records this season,” Asbe said. “It is a testament to the work the girls have put in and the trust they all have in their training and in each other. We have a very special group of athletes, and our coaching staff is lucky to be able to work with them.”
Centennial placed second in the distance medley relay with a time of 4:09.39. The team consisted of Morgan Erwin, Audrey Sandholm, Ellie Pollock and Flick.
Flick got the baton in sixth place and rallied the Jaguars into first before Northwest’s Piper Vander Ley battled back to win the race. The Wolves were clocked in 4:07.32.
“I’m pretty happy with it,” said Flick, who ran the final 800 meters in a 2:13 split and then had to run the open 800 less than two hours later. “We’re just trying to see if I can run fast and then run another fast 800 again.”
Both Ankeny and Centennial will now gear up for the state qualifying meets on Thursday. The Hawkettes will compete in the meet at Council Bluffs Lincoln, while the Jaguars are headed to Waukee Northwest.
