It has been nearly 30 years since Ankeny captured a team trophy at the girls’ state track meet.
The drought finally came to an end on Saturday at Drake Stadium.t
The Hawkettes won two more event titles on the last day of the meet and finished with 67 points, allowing them to hoist the third-place trophy in Class 4A. It was the program’s highest finish since 1997, when Ankeny earned runner-up honors in Class 3A for the second straight year.
“It was a total team effort with each event group contributing,” said Ankeny coach TJ Jumper. “No matter what obstacle was put in front of this team and coaching staff, they rallied and overcame them. It was a great way to culminate our season. The team has left a legacy for future teams to strive for.”
Waukee Northwest dominated the meet, racking up a record 150.5 points to win its fourth crown in five years. The Wolves won five of the seven relays, setting meet records in all five.
The battle for second place came down to the final event. Cedar Falls led Ankeny by 6.5 points going into the 4×400 relay and wrapped up the runner-up trophy by placing second in a time of 3:51.55, giving the Tigers a total of 76.5 points.
The Hawkettes placed fourth in the event. The quartet of Charlee Cibula, Reagan Prendergast, Gillian Schramm and Lillian Buckley was clocked in 3:53.44.
“We’re super happy,” said Buckley. “We just wanted to go out and run for fun because we were just trying to get points for our team now.”
A few minutes later, Buckley and her teammates were awarded the third-place trophy on the infield turf.
“It is so exciting for our team,” she said. “We have been waiting for this, and we deserve it a lot.”
Ankeny began the day with a thrilling victory in the sprint medley relay. Buckley and Cibula teamed up with Lena Bruening and Morgan Fisher to win the race in a time of 1:43.06, which broke the meet record of 1:43.64 that was set by Linn-Mar (Marion) in 2018.
“It feels great,” said Cibula. “I love running with these girls.”
Northwest had set an all-time best of 1:42.78 in the event two weeks ago. The Wolves had the lead when they got the baton to anchor runner Logan Vogt, but she was unable to hold off Fisher’s late charge.
Northwest, the defending champion in the event, placed second in 1:43.30.
“I was confident,” said Fisher. “I knew I had to push through and give it my all though. I just had to run my best if I was going to catch her, so that’s what I did. I really pushed at the end. I had to kick it one more gear to get her.”
Cedar Falls placed third in 1:44.71. The Tigers were anchored by Kloe Nissen, who had edged Fisher to win the 400 title on Thursday.
“I knew (Nissen) was going to be somewhere close around me,” Fisher said. “But I knew I just had to focus on myself and what was in front of me. I just had to run my own race.”
Cibula was confident that the Hawkettes’ training would pay off with a victory.
“The other teams have some great relays, but I knew we could pull through in this one,” she said. “I have no doubts in Fish. I knew she had it right when we handed it off to her.”
Fisher, Bruening and Buckley all ran on the distance medley relay that raced to an all-time Iowa best of 3:55.44 on Friday. The anchor runner of that unit, Makenna Madetzke, was getting ready for the 800 on Saturday as the dramatic finish of the sprint medley relay was unfolding.
“I was watching the times on the clock as I was warming up in a tent,” Madetzke said. “I was so happy to see them get one from Northwest.”
Shortly thereafter, Madetzke stepped onto the blue oval and raced to another victory in the 800. She controlled the race from the start and went on to post a time of 2:09.50.
Madetzke finished more than a second ahead of runner-up Rebecca Flick of Ankeny Centennial, repeating their 1-2 finish from last month’s Drake Relays.
“I actually felt like I really picked the pace that I wanted to,” Madetzke said. “I was shooting for a PR, but I had lots of races (Friday) and a couple more today. I’m really happy with it overall.”
Madetzke was thrilled to add an individual title to the relay crown she won 24 hours earlier.
“It just feels so good to get one for yourself,” she said. “But the team (win) was incredible–we were just smiling from ear to ear afterwards.”
Madetzke later placed second in the 1,500. She broke her own school record with a time of 4:33.17.
Cedar Falls star Charlee Gall pulled away on the final lap to win the race in 4:27.41. She also won the 3,000 on Thursday in similar fashion.
“I tried my best,” Madetzke said. “We did a lot of different training to see what I could do to stick with her during the kick of the last 400, and she was just better today. I thought I felt decent. It’s state, and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to get here and put on a show every race.”
Fisher added a runner-up finish for the Hawkettes in the 200. She used a strong finish to match the school record of 24.32 seconds that she set during Thursday’s preliminaries.
“I felt really good about that race,” Fisher said. “It was a good way to end my weekend. I’m very grateful for how it all went.”
Northwest’s Katie Willits won the race in 23.70, which ranks second on the state’s all-time list. She had competed in the 100 hurdles about an hour earlier–where it took the state’s all-time best time by Valley’s Morgan Karr to beat her.
But Willits showed no signs of fatigue as she blazed around the turn and had the race essentially wrapped up as she motored into the homestretch.
“She still performed amazing,” Fisher said. “She gets out really fast.”
