The Ankeny girls’ swimming team got wins from two of its newcomers during a season-opening dual meet against Waukee Northwest on Tuesday.
Holland Villhauer won the 100 butterfly in a time of 1:03.57, while fellow freshman Rowen Hutzell captured the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.32. It wasn’t enough, though, as the Wolves posted a 106-80 victory at the Waukee Natatorium.
“It was great to get our season officially underway,” said Ankeny coach Dustin Rhoads. “Of course we wanted to win on the varsity side, but I thought our team competed hard and I was proud of their effort. The JV team did awesome and had a big team win (109-68)!”
Northwest was coming off a third-place finish at last year’s state meet. Riley Gojkovich swept the 100 and 200 freestyle events for the Wolves, while Katie Trosper won the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke.
“Northwest is always a great team and very well coached,” Rhoads said. “They spread out their best girls to win most of the events. We tried to keep up with our depth. The girls were put in a position to try to succeed and keep it close.”
Ankeny posted a 1-2-4 finish in the butterfly. Alexis Hergenreter was the runner-up behind Villhauer with a time of 1:05.13, while Hayden Ocheltree took fourth in 1:06.27.
Alivia Dacey took third in the breaststroke behind Hutzell. She was clocked in 1:18.36.
“The CIML is very tough, and you have to bring it every meet,” Rhoads said. “It was really neat that the two events we did win were by freshmen. Our team is deep and talented. We just have to keep working hard and getting better. It starts back at practice (Wednesday) and continuing to build endurance and working on all of the details that make a difference in a race.”
Ankeny got a pair of second-place finishes from Allie Kearney and Avery Anderson. Kearney posted times of 2:22.34 in the 200 individual medley and 1:05.86 in the backstroke, while Anderson recorded times of 2:04.58 in the 200 freestyle and 5:33.16 in the 500 freestyle.
Piper Hedrick added a third-place finish in the 500 freestyle. She was clocked in 5:39.58.
Abigail Brugman took third in the 50 freestyle in 25.93. Maggie Blackmore finished third in the 100 freestyle in 58.91.
Ankeny opened the meet with a runner-up finish in the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Kearney, Hutzell, Villhauer and Brugman posted a time of 1:59.35.
Brugman also helped her team to a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. She teamed up with Allie Breuner, Hergenreter and Blackmore to post a time of 1:45.06.
Ankeny later finished third in the 400 freestyle relay. The quartet of Blackmore, Anderson, Hedrick and Hutzell was clocked in 3:58.42.
Rhoads’ team also got a second-place finish from Isla Corron in the diving event. She posted a score of 199.40 points.
“The main positive I take from this meet is that we were not even close to 100 percent of what we can be with Charlie Villhauer still out of the lineup, and Maggie and Alexis still sick, and Kambelle (Subbert) did not dive,” Rhoads said. “We will only get better from here.”
Ankeny will compete in the Grinnell Quadrangular on Thursday. Grinnell, Indianola and Newton will round out the field.
“I am excited for our team to get to compete again at another one of the best pools in the state at Grinnell College,” Rhoads said. “We will be able to see some different things and hopefully a good chance to pick up three wins!”