The new head coach of the Ankeny girls’ cross country team is already familiar with many of his runners.
Josh Eintertson, an assistant coach for the Ankeny girls’ track squad, has taken over the Hawkettes’ program. He replaces TJ Jumper, who resigned in May after accepting a new job as the Director of Great Oaks High School in Des Moines.
Jumper coached the team for two seasons.
“I helped out quite a bit at meets with timing and other things, so I was around the girls a lot,” said Einertson. “I always enjoyed watching them compete and was a big supporter of them and the cross country program.”
Einertson faces a challenging task heading into the 2026 season. He will have to replace standout runner Makenna Madetzke, who qualified for last year’s Class 4A state meet as an individual and earned a spot on the awards podium by placing 13th in a time of 18 minutes 12.7 seconds.
Madetzke posted four top-five finishes as a senior, including a victory in the Kirk Schmaltz Invitational at Ames. She also earned all-conference honors with a ninth-place finish at the CIML Conference meet, where she led the Hawkettes to a seventh-place finish.
Madetzke went on to enjoy a spectactular spring on the track, claiming the Class 4A state title in the 800 and anchoring the winning distance medley relay to an all-time state best while helping Ankeny to a third-place finish overall. She is now competing for Missouri State.
“You can’t replace someone like Makenna,” Einertson said. “She was an awesome kid who worked incredibly hard to get to where she was.”
Madetzke placed fifth in last year’s state qualifying meet at Marshalltown, but it wasn’t enough to lift her team to the state meet. The Hawkettes finished fifth as well and failed to qualify for the first time since 2019.
Ankeny had advanced to state in each of the previous five years and had earned three consecutive seventh-place finishes from 2022-24.
“We are going to be young this year, but that’s also what makes it exciting,” Einertson said. “It will be fun to watch some of our younger girls get into the mix right away and see how they respond. Our senior girls have done an awesome job stepping into leadership roles and showing our younger runners how we do things here at Ankeny.”
Seniors Vanessa Wise and Bella Sullivan are the lone returning varsity regulars. Wise placed 36th at the state qualifying meet in 21:24.
“Vanessa is going to have a big year for us,” Einertson said. “She has put together an awesome summer, and we’re really excited to see what she can do this fall.”
Sullivan finished 38th at the state qualifying meet in 21:41.
“Bella is another returning runner for us who brings some valuable experience back to the team,” Einertson said.
There are just under 40 girls on the roster. Ankeny will open the season on Aug. 25 by competing in the Jaguar Invitational at DMACC.
The Hawkettes placed seventh at last year’s meet.
“The practices have been going awesome,” Einertson said. “The girls are getting out there, working hard, competing with one another, and continuing to get better and stronger each day. It’s been fun to see our group of freshmen get into the mix with some of our more experienced runners. There’s a lot of excitement and energy within the group right now.
“I definitely think running as a pack and learning how to compete together will be important for us. We want the girls pushing one another and understanding that every spot matters,” he added.
Einertson comes from a long line of runners. His father is a head cross country coach, and so is his uncle.
“I’m also an active runner myself and have completed several half marathons and even a marathon,” he said.
Einertson brings a variety of coaching experience to the program.
“At my previous school before Ankeny, I started as an eighth grade coach and then became a varsity assistant,” he said. “Being at a smaller school, you end up coaching a little bit of everything, but my main focus (in track) was on the sprints. My first year in Ankeny, I was the eighth grade girls’ distance coach. After getting the varsity assistant position, I primarily worked with the sprinters over the last few years.”
Jumper said he’ll continue to coach the track team.
“With the new job, it would not be possible to coach time-wise during two seasons in a school year,” Jumper said. “But I am super excited that Josh was hired as the new cross country head coach. This will continue to connect both cross country and track together.”
Einertson said his team’s biggest goal is to simply compete.
“We want to learn something from every race, continue gaining experience, and keep improving throughout the season,” he said. “With such a young group, we don’t want to put a ceiling on what they can accomplish. We want to focus on getting better each week and see where that takes us.”