The Ankeny girls’ swimming team closed out its CIML Conference dual-meet schedule with its most lopsided win against a league opponent.
Coach Dustin Rhoads’ seventh-ranked squad won 10 of the 12 events and swept the top three places in three of them while cruising to a 132-54 victory on Tuesday at Southeast Polk. Ankeny improved to 2-4 in the conference and 18-10 overall, while the Rams’ records dropped to 0-5 and 9-23.
“We had a fun final dual meet,” said Rhoads. “It was their Senior Night and our final meet all together as a team. I wanted the girls to focus on having fun and supporting each other as a big team for the final time. I thought overall we swam really well despite the meet going very quickly as they had a small team. I had a lot of seniors remind me this was their final dual meet, which is hard to believe.”
Ankeny’s Avery Anderson won the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:06.14, then later took the 500 freestyle in 5:37.94. Abigail Brugman also won a pair of individual events, posting times of 25.84 seconds in the 50 freestyle and 1:05.29 in the 100 backstroke.
Maggie Blackmore captured the 100 freestyle in 56.86. She earlier placed second behind Brugman in the 50 freestyle in 26.10.
Holland Villhauer won the 100 butterfly in a time of 1:02.81. Allie Kearney took the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.57.
Ankeny also won all three relay events while wrapping up a fourth-place tie in the conference with No. 6 Johnston and No. 8 Valley.
“I am very proud of our finish in the conference,” Rhoads said. “Obviously, we are still behind Dowling Catholic and the Waukee schools, but I think we closed the gap a bit and this team will continue to chase those teams in the future.”
Piper Hedrick was the runner-up in both the 200 freestyle (2:06.63) and 100 freestyle (58.15). Rowen Hutzell placed second in both the butterfly (1:05.62) and the backstroke (1:07.44).
Addy Mason also contributed a pair of runner-up finishes. She posted times of 2:26.64 in the 200 individual medley and 5:50.78 in the 500 freestyle.
Southeast Polk scored 13 of its points in the diving event, where it swept the top three places. Emory Braunschweig-Norris, the state’s second-ranked diver, won the event with 247.20 points.
The Rams also got a victory from Mia Ludwig in the 200 IM.
Ankeny will compete in the Bobcat Diving Invitational on Saturday at Marshalltown before preparing for next week’s CIML Conference meet.
“It is crazy to think the regular season is now over,” Rhoads said. “I am really proud of the girls and their improvements throughout the season. The times might not always show it, but we see the hard work and growth in practice every day and we see them applying things we are trying to teach them. It is going to pay off at these final meets coming up. I am very excited for the JV group to rest and taper for conference, and then the varsity group to do the same for regionals and state.
“Even though it is the end, this is the most fun time of the season coming up!” he added.