Friday’s victory in the distance medley relay has lifted the Ankeny girls’ track team into contention for a trophy at the Class 4A state meet.
The Hawkettes moved into fifth place with 26 points heading into the final day of the meet at Drake Stadium. Defending champion Waukee Northwest holds a commanding lead with 63.5 points, but second-place Cedar Falls is only 12.5 points ahead of coach TJ Jumper’s squad.
“I knew me and my teammates were capable of something like that,” Ankeny senior Makenna Madetzke said of the Hawkettes’ first relay win since 2022. “It takes a good day for it to happen, but today was a great day.”
Ankeny Centennial, meanwhile, is tied for 10th with 14 points. The Jaguars are seeking their first top-10 finish in school history.
“We still have a lot of things to do this weekend, but I know we’re going to kill it,” Centennial senior Aly Balashaitis said after her team’s fourth-place finish in the distance medley relay. “It’s state, and it’s fun. I’m just glad we’re all here.”
Centennial entered the state meet with the fastest qualifying time in the distance medley relay, but Ankeny changed its lineup for Friday’s race, inserting 400 runner-up Morgan Fisher into the crucial third leg.
Fisher teamed up with Lena Bruening, Lilly Buckley and Madetzke to win the race in an all-time Iowa best of 3:55.44, finishing more than 7 seconds ahead of runner-up Cedar Falls. The Hawkettes posted the second-fastest time in the U.S. this season.
“It feels amazing,” said Fisher. “I love it.”
Bruening ran a strong opening leg before handing off to Buckley, who was challenging for the lead when she made the exchange to Fisher.
“I thought we could do it because we all know what we can do individually,” said Bruening. “I think when we put all of our strengths together, it’s such a fun race because we get to highlight each of our individual strengths. And when it all came together, I knew that we could run something really good.”
Buckley was just happy to be part of the relay. She missed most of the season while battling a hamstring injury.
“I honestly did not think I was going to be here after the whole injury thing, but I’m so, so grateful,” Buckley said. “And it’s unbelievable. I’m so glad I have this team with me today. I’m very happy.”
By the time Fisher handed off to Madetzke, the race was over. But she refused to take it easy, running the final 800 meters in a sizzling 2:10.09.
That allowed Ankeny to eclipse the previous all-time best of 3:55.82, which was set by Davenport Assumption in 2017.
“She had a pretty good gap, but I’m so proud of all of them,” Fisher said. “We all got (Madetzke) in a really good place, and she ran an amazing leg.”
Balashaitis said she knew what the Hawkettes were capable of with both Fisher and Madetzke on the same unit.
“We saw their lineup, and they have amazing runners,” she said. “It really helped to push us, and I’m grateful for every single team out there that we ran against today.”
The real battle was for second place between Cedar Falls, Waukee Northwest and Centennial. Aly Drefke, Bella Buesch and Balashaitis ran the first three legs for the Jaguars, who then got a strong anchor leg from standout freshman Rebecca Flick.
Flick briefly lifted her team into second before the Tigers’ Charlee Gall and the Wolves’ Emee Dani fought back. Only .36 seconds separated the trio at the finish line, but Centennial had to settle for fourth place in 4:02.85.
Still, the Jaguars posted the No. 18 fastest time ever in Iowa.
“I felt great,” Balashaitis said. “I know our team expected more, but I think we pulled it out really well.”
Ankeny and Centennial collided again in the 4×200 relay. Both teams came out of the second section to place in the top eight.
The Jaguars won their section and placed fifth overall in a time of 1:41.77. Balashaitis and Buesch were joined on that relay by Ava Barten and Anna Woods.
“We’re happy,” said Buesch. “We’ve all had a lot of stuff this weekend, and we’re just excited to see what the rest of state brings (on Saturday).”
The Ankeny quartet of Quinn Roush, Riley Kayser, Charlee Cibula and Buckley set a school record with a time of 1:42.11. The Hawkettes placed eighth overall.
Waukee Northwest won the race for the fourth consecutive year. The Wolves posted an all-time best of 1:37.77 to break the Class 4A mark that they set a year ago.
Both Ankeny and Centennial later advanced to Saturday’s final in the 4×400 relay. Madetzke ran the anchor leg for the Hawkettes, teaming up with Cibula, Buckley and Gillian Schramm to post the fourth-fastest qualifying time of 3:54.43.
The Jaguars turned in the sixth-fastest time of 3:55.58. Teagan Jackson joined Balashaitis, Buesch and Flick on that relay.
Bruening earlier earned a fourth-place finish in the long jump. She recorded a leap of 18 feet on her third jump in the preliminaries.
Bruening had four other jumps of at least 17-6, but she was unable to approach her personal best of 18-10.
“I definitely think that I’ve had better performances,” Bruening said. “Going in I was hoping for more, but in the end I was happy to score points and do my part for the team.”
Bruening was joined in the finals by Centennial’s Audrey Sandholm, who jumped 16-11 on her first attempt of the day but was never able to improve her mark. She finished in ninth place, while Jackson took 14th for the Jaguars with a jump of 16-8.5.
“I was just really happy to make the finals,” said Sandholm, who owns a personal best of 17-5. “I’m just so happy to be here.”
In another field event, Ankeny’s Gwyn Christensen placed 19th in the shot put. She recorded a throw of 35-1.25.
Delilah Subsin of Ottumwa won the event by more than 2 feet, posting a toss of 47-1. She was the runner-up in the discus on Thursday.
Woods advanced to Saturday’s final in the 100 hurdles for the third straight year. She posted the eighth-fastest qualifying time of 14.76.
“That was a little scary when I saw the time,” Woods said. “But I’m just glad I made it, and hopefully I’ll run a lot faster (Saturday).”
Barten placed 13th in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:04.11. Jana Maharry of Waukee won the race in 1:00.11, breaking the Class 4A record that was previously held by Payton Wensel of Linn-Mar (Marion)–who will be inducted into the IGHSAU Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Centennial then added a 16th-place finish in the 4×100 relay. The team of Drefke, Morgan Erwin, Siena Peddicord and Taylor Gilbreaith posted a time of 49.76 seconds.
