Ankeny Centennial senior Aly Balashaitis stood on the infield at Drake Stadium on Saturday afternoon and soaked up the atmosphere.
The Jaguars had just finished in a seventh-place tie with Valley in the girls’ Class 4A state track meet. Both teams scored 35 points.
It was the first top-10 finish in Centennial’s school history. The Jaguars had previously placed no higher than 12th.
“I knew we had it in us,” said Balashaitis. “We had a really good team this year.”
Centennial closed out the meet with a third-place finish in the 4×400 relay. Balashaitis teamed up with Ava Barten, Teagan Jackson and Rebecca Flick to post a time of 3:52.21.
That allowed the Jaguars to earn a spot on the awards podium for that event.
“It feels amazing,” Balashaitis said. “That’s exactly what we were trying to do, and we did what we needed to. I’m ecstatic–I’m just very happy.”
It was the first race of the day for Balashaitis, who was slated to run the anchor leg of the sprint medley relay several hours earlier. However, Centennial dropped the baton and did not finish that race, which Balashaitis indicated might have been a blessing in disguise.
“Honestly, that was probably for the best,” she said. “I’m on fresh legs, and I had that (go for broke) mentality knowing it’s the last race I’m ever going to run.”
Flick earlier placed second in the 800 with a time of 2:10.77. Ankeny’s Makenna Madetzke won the race in 2:09.50.
Madetzke and Flick also finished 1-2 in that event at the Drake Relays last month.
“I’m happy with it,” said Flick. “I was just trying to stay with Makenna most of the time.”
Centennial also got an eighth-place finish from Ellie Blevins in the 800. She won the first section in a time of 2:15.11, then watched the second section to see if her time would place in the top eight.
“I’m so excited,” said Blevins. “Coming from the slow heat, me and my (assistant) coach (Eric Cogdill) talked a lot about whether I was going to run the 800 or be fresh for the 1,500. I wanted the best opportunity possible, and I’ve ran this race so many times. I’ve been in the slow heat the last three years, and I know how to run it. I just had so much confidence in myself running in this one.”
The vocal encouragement from Cogdill, who coaches the Centennial girls’ cross country team, helped Blevins across the finish line.
“Coming down the homestretch I was like, ‘I’ve got to hold on. I’ve got to hold on,'” Blevins said. “Then I could actually hear Cog screaming all the way over there on the backstretch, ‘Go Ellie go!’ I truly think he’s the best coach. He had confidence in me before I even did. I’m just super proud of both of us. Becci is so gritty out there competing against DI seniors, and she’s just a little freshman out here.”
Blevins rooted for her teammate while she watched the clock.
“Cheering on Becci in the fast heat, it really just came full circle knowing that we have the depth and we’re able to do this out here,” Blevins said. “Before this, I don’t even know when the last medal we got in the open 800 was. So to get two medals today is insane.”
The Jaguars also scored some points in the shuttle hurdle relay, where they placed fourth in a time of 1:02.05. The foursome of Barten, Siena Peddicord, Taylor Gilbreaith and Anna Woods set a new school record, dropping almost a full second off the previous mark.
“I’m so happy,” said Barten. “I’m so proud of these girls.”
Waukee Northwest won the race in 58.61 seconds, setting a new all-time Iowa best. The Wolves defended their title in the event.
Valley was the runner-up in 58.92 and also eclipsed the previous all-time best of 59.37, which was set by Northwest at the Drake Relays. Barten said the Jaguars simply focused on running their own race.
“Honestly, I think we were just trying to run it together one last time,” she said. “Just enjoy it and obviously run as fast as we can. That’s the whole point, but I knew if we left the track with no regrets we’d be proud of our time.”
Peddicord, a freshman, rebounded from her mishap in the sprint medley relay, where she knocked the baton out of her own hand while coming out of the blocks.
“The team did a really great job,” Barten said. “There’s nothing you can do about that afterwards, so we just put that into the back of our minds and focused on the next race ahead. For being a freshman, Siena handled it with such maturity. We’re all very proud of her.”
Woods later placed eighth in the 100 hurdles. She posted a time of 15.96 seconds after hitting one of the last few hurdles.
Still, she became a three-time placewinner in the event. She placed seventh last year and was sixth as a freshman.
Valley’s Morgan Karr won the race in 13.53, setting another all-time Iowa best.
Centennial’s Natalie Cogdill raced to an 18th-place finish in the 1,500, posting a time of 4:44.55. Blevins finished 24th in that event in 4:55.44.
Charlee Gall of Cedar Falls pulled away from Madetzke on the final lap to win the race in 4:27.41. She ran the ninth-fastest time in the U.S. this season.
