The Ankeny boys’ track team competed against its crosstown rival in multiple events on Friday at the Class 4A state meet.
In every instance, the Hawks got the better of Ankeny Centennial.
The closest battle came in the distance medley relay, where the two teams didn’t even run in the same section. The Ankeny foursome of Finn McClure, Owen Fischer, Isaiah Swanson and Isaiah Smith won the second section in 3:25.65, putting up a time that the Hawks were hoping would be good enough to claim a title.
“It just felt like we were watching the clock,” said McClure. “That’s all we were looking at. We didn’t really know how to feel about it. We got done with it and we were like, ‘Is it fast enough?'”
The Centennial quartet of Noah Ross, Heisman Dickinson, Brecken Allen and Cohen Moll then battled for the lead much of the way in the final section, but Bettendorf got a strong anchor leg from 3,200 champion AJ Willey (1:52.64) to win the crown in 3:24.85. The Bulldogs posted the third-fastest time in the nation this season.
The Jaguars, meanwhile, were clocked in 3:25.90, placing fifth overall behind fourth-place Ankeny.
“We’ve been talking about the race all week,” Dickinson said. “Noah got a little beat up in his 100 (on Thursday), but we were talking about giving it our best shot to win it all. We ran our season-best time, but everyone else just ran a little bit better than us.”
Dickinson wasn’t surprised when Ankeny won the second section by more than 2 seconds.
“I was definitely impressed,” he said. “They beat us at Drake and ran a really good time, and I knew they could do it again. The goal was to try to beat them, but it didn’t happen.”
McClure felt helpless in the infield as he watched the final section along with his teammates. Ankeny finished just .03 seconds behind third-place Dubuque Hempstead, which joined runner-up Indianola and Bettendorf on the awards podium.
“I thought we had a pretty good lead, but it’s one of those relays that is pretty easy to put together,” McClure said. “It’s not as much relying on handoffs, it’s just straight up speed. It kind of sucked to not get (the win). I felt like we ran well. I’m happy with our time.”
McClure later helped the Hawks to a fifth-place finish in the 4×200 relay. He teamed up with Cooper McDowell, Treyton Grossman and Fischer to post a time of 1:27.02.
Centennial, the two-time defending champion in the event, took 15th in 1:29.65. The team consisted of James Naert, Dickinson, Kyler Jones and James Cole.
Dowling Catholic won the race in 1:26.07. The Maroons edged Cedar Rapids Prairie by .23 seconds.
Both Ankeny and Centennial later advanced to Saturday’s final in the 4×400 relay.
The Hawks posted the sixth-fastest qualifying time of 3:20.81. The squad was comprised of Swanson, Quin Somers, Smith and Caden McDowell.
The Centennial team of Allen, Ryne Adams, Jones and Sawyer Goble posted the eighth-fastest time. The Jaguars were clocked in 3:21.71.
Ankeny placed 10th overall in the 4×100 relay in 42.28. The foursome of McClure, Hayden Carlson, Grossman and Fischer missed qualifying for the final by just .11 seconds.
Centennial took 13th in that event. The team of Naert, Dickinson, Jones and Cole posted a time of 42.55.
Carlson earlier cruised into Saturday’s final in the 110 hurdles. He posted the fastest qualifying time of 13.90, while nobody else ran faster than 14.32.
“I’m happy with it,” Carlson said. “I got a lane in the finals, and that’s all we’re going for.”
After running in the first heat, Carlson turned into a cheerleader for teammate Sam Madsen, who was running in the third heat. The Hawks were hoping to have two finalists in the event for the second straight year, but Madsen went on to place 15th in 14.83 and did not qualify.
“I’m going to be cheering for him, and I’m really excited to see what he can do,” Carlson said between the two heats.
Ankeny got a ninth-place finish from Nathan Lee in the shot put. He advanced to the finals with a throw of 52 feet 6 inches on his third attempt in the preliminaries, but he was unable to improve his mark.
Centennial’s Johnathan Gilbert also competed in that event. He finished 23rd with a toss of 46-8.
Hunter Infanger of Council Bluffs Lewis Central won the shot put with a throw of 59-7. He edged James Barnett of Iowa City West by 4 inches.
The Jaguars got a 21st-place finish from Brandon Bakkum in the long jump. He recorded a leap of 20-0.5.
Kaiden Kunze of Norwalk jumped 23-8.25 to win the event by a foot over Austin Hansen of Cedar Falls. He also won the 400 on Thursday, repeating his two victories at last month’s Drake Relays.
Although Ankeny won all of its head-to-head battles against Centennial on Friday, the Hawks are still looking up at the Jaguars in the team standings.
Centennial is currently tied for 15th place with 10 points. Two-time defending champion Ankeny is tied for 17th with nine points.
Bettendorf leads the way with 47 points, 11 more than Cedar Falls. The Bulldogs got a victory from Gage Tucker in the 400 hurdles, while teammate J.J. McDermott took third in that event.
