On a night when Waukee Northwest dominated a state qualifying meet on its home track, Becci Flick and Noah Ross of Ankeny Centennial stole at least some of the spotlight.
Flick and Ross each won an individual event and also anchored a winning relay to lead the Jaguars to a runner-up finish in their respective divisions.
“I’m confident in this team, and I’m happy to be running,” said Ross.
The Centennial boys’ squad won three events and automatically qualified for state in four others by placing second. Northwest won the boys’ title with 174 points, finishing 32 points ahead of the Jaguars.
The Wolves were even more dominant in the girls’ division, racking up 258 points. Centennial, which won two events and automatically qualified in six others, was a distant second with 148 points.
“Some of my races there are definitely things I’d go back and try to improve,” said Centennial senior Ava Barten, who qualified for state in all four of her events. “But all in all, it was a pretty successful night.”
Ross raced to a victory in the boys’ 100 in 11.13 seconds. He ran into a gusty headwind.
“At this meet all I care about is placement,” Ross said. “Just making it to state is the goal.”
Ross later anchored the Jaguars to another win in the 4×100 relay. He teamed up with James Naert, Heisman Dickinson and Kyler Jones to post a time of 42.05 seconds.
“I saw that I was right in the mix with everyone (when I got the baton), so I knew we had it,” Ross said.
Centennial’s other victory came in the distance medley relay, where the foursome of James Cole, Caden Arends, Sawyer Goble and Brecken Allen posted a time of 3:31.83. Allen outdueled Marshalltown’s Preston Johnson on the 800-meter anchor leg to finish .19 seconds ahead of the distance standout.
“It was a matter of pride,” said Allen. “You want to win everything.”
While Johnson had earlier won the 3,200, Allen may have benefitted from some unexpected rest. He was slated to run the 400-meter anchor leg of the sprint medley relay, but the Jaguars never got the baton around the track to the junior.
“Especially with our sprint med disqualified, I was fresh,” Allen said. “I knew we had a good chance to win. I knew I had more in me. I saw (Johnson) in my peripheral vision, and so I just gave it everything I had.”
Both Allen and Flick have been dual athletes this spring, excelling on the track while also playing key roles for the Centennial soccer teams. Allen missed the top-ranked Jaguars’ 4-2 win over Des Moines Lincoln on Thursday.
“Sometimes you’ve got to make sacrifices,” Allen said. “I’ll miss a lot of track because of soccer games. There’s a lot of conflicts, but I make it work. The coaches really help me a lot with it to get stuff organized.”
The physical nature of soccer may have helped Flick in the final event of the night. She teamed up with Aly Balashaitis, Barten and Teagan Jackson to place second in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:59.40.
When Jackson handed off to Flick on the final exchange, the Jaguars were locked in a close battle with Waukee for second. The Warriors’ Emme Baugh Van Zee immediately tried to pass Flick, but the Centennial freshman refused to let her.
“I knew I had to get ahead because it’s just one lap, so it’s not like I can recover fast,” said Flick. “So we started out really fast, and we were both trying to get in there (to the rail). I actually elbowed her a little, but we talked it out after the race and we’re all good.”
Northwest easily won the race in 3:54.82, but Barten was happy with the runner-up finish.
“We had a really busy night so second was the goal,” she said. “We auto qualified into state so we’re good.”
Flick earlier ran on the winning distance medley relay. She teamed up with Aly Drefke, Audrey Sandholm and Jackson to post a time of 4:05.72, the fastest across all of Class 4A on Thursday.
Flick outkicked Northwest’s Laney Sundet on the anchor leg.
“I had so much faith in (Flick), and I knew she could do it,” Jackson said. “We went in with the mindset that we had a good chance to get second but I just told my whole team to push for first because we were more than capable of winning this race. We just went out there and we did our best, and we really showed it.”
Flick later won the 800 in a time of 2:14.14. She finished 1.64 seconds ahead of another Northwest standout–Piper Vander Ley.
“I was pretty confident,” Flick said. “The wind didn’t seem too bad so I was just coasting.”
Barten placed second in the 400 hurdles in 1:03.04, which broke her own school record. Jana Maharry of Waukee won the race in 1:00.47, the fastest time in the state this season.
“That definitely helps to have a competitor,” Barten said. “Giving me someone to chase after definitely helps.”
Ellie Blevins took second in the 3,000 in 10:33.73. She also qualified in both the 800 and 1,500, while teammate Trinity Klingensmith will join her in the 3,000.
Anna Woods was third in the 100 hurdles in 14.48 seconds. She broke her own school record and easily qualified for state.
Woods teamed up with Siena Peddicord, Taylor Gilbreaith and Bella Buesch for a second-place finish in the 4×100 relay. The Jaguars posted a time of 49.32 seconds.
Woods, Peddicord and Buesch earlier ran on the runner-up sprint medley relay. They combined with Balashaitis to turn in a time of 1:48.17.
Jackson was the runner-up in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet 10 inches. Sandholm placed third in the event with a jump of 17-5.25 and also advanced.
Bella Anderson and Elise Benning both qualified for state in the discus. Jaeden Jackson and Kaelyn Rinehart both advanced in the 400.
Centennial also qualified in three other relays. The quartet of Barten, Peddicord, Gilbreaith and Woods placed third in the shuttle hurdle relay in 1:04.34, while the team of Barten, Bailey Snyder, Drefke and Balashaitis took third in the 4×200 relay in 1:43.58.
The 4×800 team of Kaiah Starr, Sammi Maile, Cate Benning and Natalie Cogdill placed fourth in a time of 9:55.27. Cogdill also qualified in the 1,500.
“We had a great meet, and it was a total team effort,” said Centennial girls’ coach Tyler Asbe. “I’m very proud of the way all of our athletes competed and supported each other!”
On the boys’ side, Ross helped the Jaguars to a second-place finish in the 4×200. He teamed up with Dickinson, Naert and Jones to post a time of 1:28.64.
“That might be our best time of the year,” Ross said.
Davis Johnson placed second for the Jaguars in the 3,200 in 9:37.30. Teammate Ian Smith also qualified for state in that event, placing fourth in 9:46.67.
Centennial was the runner-up in the 4×800 relay. The foursome of Jack Behrens, Ryne Adams, Jackson Lewis and Jax Alvarez posted a time of 8:07.06.
“That was definitely our goal (to finish in the top two),” said Alvarez. “I was a little worried after our first two legs, but I’ve got faith in all my teammates and faith in God. That’s all I really need.”
Alvarez later took second in the 1,600 with a time of 4:20.77. Marshalltown’s Johnson won that race in 4:19.39.
“It feels great,” Alvarez said. “And it’s all God. He’s carried me through so much. I’ve had a lot of lows and I was really discouraged throughout the season, but God has really showed me his plan and his power in the last few weeks. It was sickness and honestly just some self-doubt that I was dealing with.
“I knew I had to step on the track with more confidence,” he added.
Teammate Cohen Moll placed fourth in the 1,600 in 4:22.15 and finished third in the 800 in 1:57.36. He qualified in both events.
Brandon Bakkum placed third in the long jump with a leap of 21-5, while Camden Sherwood took third in the high jump at 6-1 and also advanced. Johnathan Gilbert was another individual qualifier after finishing fourth in the shot put with a toss of 52-5.
The Jaguars closed out the meet with a third-place finish in the 4×400 relay. The team of Allen, Goble, Adams and Jones qualified with a time of 3:23.32.
Centennial also advanced with a fourth-place finish in the shuttle hurdle relay. The squad of Gavin Matheny, Devin Boyle, Anders Peck and Nic Ryan was clocked in 1:00.71.
Centennial freshman Logan Shwery won four wheelchair events and posted personal bests in all three of his races on the track. He won the 100 in 23.49, the 200 in 44.79, the 400 in 1:23.45 and the shot put at 9-4.
