After not competing for 10 days, the Ankeny girls’ swimming team returned to action on Saturday and placed second among 10 squads in the 48th Marcussen Invitational at Cedar Falls.
Seventh-ranked Ankeny racked up 343 points despite winning no events. Coach Dustin Rhoads’ team raised its overall record to 13-4 on the season.
No. 3 Cedar Falls easily captured the title in its home pool, finishing with 467 points. The Tigers won four of the 12 events.
“We had a good day of racing,” said Rhoads, whose team had a meet against Ames cancelled earlier in the week. “We added this meet this season to be able to face a bunch of teams from the eastern side of the state that we don’t always get to compete against. I thought the girls competed hard, and all of them contributed to our second-place finish. Cedar Falls is a great team, and it was fun to compete against them and eight other teams in the brand new Cedar Falls pool.”
Ankeny was led by junior Maggie Blackmore, who lost a close race in the 500 freestyle. Dubuque Wahlert freshman Malin Thier won the event in a time of 5:14.14, while Blackmore was the runner-up in 5:14.73.
Blackmore earlier placed fourth in the 200 freestyle. She was clocked in 1:59.60.
“Maggie was great today!” Rhoads said. “She swam two best times, and she got the state auto qualifying time in the 500 which was awesome!”
Teammate Avery Anderson earned a pair of top-six finishes in those two events. She placed sixth in the 200 freestyle in 2:04.11 and finished fourth in the 500 freestyle in 5:33.43.
Ankeny placed three swimmers among the top 10 finishers in the 200 individual medley, earning 34 points in that event. Piper Hedrick took fifth in 2:23.03, Allie Kearney was sixth in 2:23.96, and Addy Mason finished 10th in 2:26.14.
Hedrick later placed sixth in the 100 freestyle in 58.76. Kearney added a ninth-place finish in the 100 backstroke, posting a time of 1:05.99.
Kearney finished just behind teammate Abigail Brugman, who took eighth in the backstroke in 1:04.71. Brugman earlier placed fifth in the 50 freestyle in 26.57.
Ankeny got a fifth-place finish from Holland Villhauer in the 100 butterfly. She was clocked in 1:03.30.
Rowen Hutzell placed seventh in the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.20. She earlier took eighth in the 100 freestyle in 59.04.
Ankeny also performed well in the diving event, which consisted of 11 dives. Kambelle Subbert placed fifth with a score of 316.40 points, while Isla Corron finished seventh with 310.05.
No. 15 Bettendorf matched Cedar Falls with four first-place finishes, including a victory in the 200 freestyle relay. Ankeny placed fourth in that event as the foursome of Blackmore, Brugman, Hutzell and Hedrick posted a time of 1:46.74.
Brugman and Hutzell earlier teamed up with Villhauer and Allie Breuner for a sixth-place finish in the 200 medley relay. They were clocked in 1:58.60.
Rhoads’ squad later closed out the meet with another sixth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. The quartet of Blackmore, Hedrick, Kearney and Villhauer posted a time of 3:54.41.
Ankeny will host a CIML Conference meet against No. 1 Dowling Catholic on Tuesday at Trail Point Aquatics Center. The Maroons are 2-1 in the league and 18-4 overall.
“It is crazy we only have a few meets left in the regular season,” Rhoads said. “We are excited to celebrate our seniors on Tuesday night!”