With the bulk of its qualifiers returning from last year’s state meet, the Ankeny girls’ swimming team enters the 2026 season with some higher expectations.
Ankeny placed 27th at the state meet with 17 points after finishing 29th in 2024. Coach Dustin Rhoads’ team saw some improvement, but still has a long way to go to again become a top-10 contender.
Prior to the last two seasons, Ankeny had earned 10 consecutive top-10 finishes over the previous decade.
“We always want to finish in the top half of the CIML Conference, win a district championship and get a banner, and finish in the top 10 at state,” said Rhoads. “But the main goals are always to have fun, work hard, be a great teammate, and do your best.”
Ankeny returns seven of the eight girls who competed at last year’s state meet. Only Madi Trosper, who swam on all three of the team’s relays, will have to be replaced.
Seniors Allie Breuner and Kambelle Subbert are back along with juniors Avery Anderson, Maggie Blackmore, Allie Kearney and Charlie Villhauer. Sophomore Abigial Brugman is the other returning qualifier.
Villhauer is a two-time placewinner in the 100 butterfly. She placed 16th in the event as a freshman before finishing 12th a year ago in 1:00.17.
Villhauer posted a time of 59.15 seconds during the preliminaries, tying her with Addison Oelke of Sioux City West for the eighth-fastest time. That meant that the two swimmers had to compete in a swim-off later in the day for the last qualifying spot in the “A” final.
Villhauer eventually lost the swim-off, but she recorded a personal best of 58.37.
Villhauer also qualified for state in the 100 freestyle. She placed 24th in that event in 55.98 seconds.
Blackmore and Anderson will again be two of Ankeny’s top distance swimmers. They both qualified for state in the 200 and 500 freestyle events.
Blackmore placed 19th in the 500 freestyle in 5:23.83, moving up two spots from her freshman year. Anderson took 23rd in 5:26.21.
Blackmore finished 25th in the 200 freestyle in 2:01.02. Anderson placed 26th in 2:01.60.
“Maggie and Charlie are both coming off of surgeries this summer for some injuries,” Rhoads said. “They will be available, but we are just hoping to have both of them as close to 100 percent by the end of the season.”
Kearney also qualified for state in two individual events. She tied for 30th in the 200 individual medley in 2:22.37 and later finished 32nd in the 100 backstroke in 1:05.24.
Subbert, meanwhile, was a state qualifier in the diving event. She placed 27th with a score of 150.50 points through five dives, but did not advance to the second round.
Ankeny scored most of its points at the state meet with an 11th-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Kearney, Villhauer and Brugman are back from the unit that posted a time of 1:52.62.
Villhauer later swam in the 400 freestyle relay along with Anderson and Blackmore. She swam the anchor leg in 54.69 seconds as Ankeny placed 18th in the event in 3:44.72.
Rhoads’ team swam faster in all three relays than it did at the regional meet. In the 200 freestyle relay, Ankeny dropped more than a half-second off its time but was disqualified in the event.
Blackmore, Brugman and Breuner all swam on the relay that would have placed 14th in 1:42.01 if it had counted.
“We are excited about the team we have–it is the biggest and deepest team I have had in four years,” Rhoads said of the 43 girls on his roster. “I expect us to be a very competitive dual meet team. I expect to have many state qualifiers again. After that, it will just be about trying to get people into the ‘A’ or ‘B’ finals at state in order to score points. Last year, we did not capitalize on that enough, but we have a lot of experience returning and a lot of athletes with a chance to score (among top 16 finishers).”
Senior Kylee Stone also has some state-meet experience. As a sophomore in 2024, she placed 27th in the backstroke in 1:03.46.
Stone is one of the team captains. The others are Blackmore, Breuner, Subbert and Villhauer.
Ankeny should also be strengthened by the return of senior Alexis Hergenreter, who has rejoined the squad after not competing the last two years. As a freshman in 2023, she helped the team to a ninth-place finish at state.
Hergenreter placed 25th in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events. She also swam on the seventh-place 400 freestyle relay.
“We are very excited to have Alexis back for her senior year as she will do both cross country and swimming,” Rhoads said. “We expect all of the returning regional team and state qualifiers to make a big impact plus freshmen Rowen Hutzell and Holland Villhauer.”
Rhoads is excited to see what his team can accomplish.
“The practices have been going well,” he said. “We know we don’t have much time before the first meet so we are working hard in preparation for that and to get everyone in swimming shape, but also we have been able to do a lot of fun team things that are very important for our team culture as well.”
Ankeny will open the season on Tuesday with a CIML Conference dual meet at Waukee Northwest, which placed third in last year’s state meet with 250 points.
“It is always fun to compete at the Waukee Natatorium, one of the best pools in the state,” Rhoads said. “Obviously, Northwest is a great team and is so well coached, so it will be a big challenge right out of the gate. I think it has kept our team focused knowing we have a tough opponent to start. The CIML is the best swimming conference in the state, so there are never really any easy meets. You have to be ready to go!
“It will be exciting to compete with them and see where we are at to start the season,” he added.