The Ankeny girls’ swimming team avenged a dual-meet loss to Johnston while placing fourth in the CIML Conference meet on Saturday at the Waukee Natatorium.
Seventh-ranked Ankeny finished with 188 points, 16 more than the No. 6 Dragons. Johnston had posted a 102-85 victory at Ankeny on Sept. 22.
Coach Dustin Rhoads’ team is now 21-13 overall on the season.
“I’m really proud of how our team performed today,” said Ankeny junior Maggie Blackmore. “Everyone raced hard and showed up for each other.”
The meet featured six of the state’s top eight teams. No. 1 Dowling Catholic edged No. 2 Waukee Northwest by eight points, 370-362, to capture its third consecutive CIML crown.
No. 4 Waukee placed third with 317 points. The top four teams finished in the same order for the third straight year.
Ankeny also defeated Johnston in each of the previous two meets after losing to the Dragons in an earlier dual meet.
“Conference isn’t usually a super serious meet since everyone is so sore at this point in the season, so it was really great to see the team have fun, race, and not worry too much about the times,” Blackmore said.
Blackmore led the way for Ankeny with a pair of top-six finishes. She placed sixth in the 50 freestyle in 26.08 seconds, then took third in the 100 freestyle in 55.78.
“I was happy with how I competed today, and it was exciting to place in my off events and race more girls,” Blackmore said. “There’s always things I can improve on, but I’m proud of how I swam and it gives me a little more confidence going into state.”
Teammate Avery Anderson also reached the awards podium in two individual events. She placed fifth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:05.54, then took sixth in the 500 freestyle in 5:36.36.
Ankeny got top-10 finishes from four other swimmers. Piper Hedrick placed eighth in the 100 backstroke in 1:05.59, while teammate Abigail Brugman was 10th in the same event in 1:05.64.
Rowen Hutzell placed ninth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:23.76. Allie Kearney later took ninth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:16.02.
Ankeny opened the meet with a sixth-place finish in the 200 medley relay (1:59.34). Rhoads’ team later took seventh in the 200 freestyle relay (1:48.11) and eighth in the 400 freestyle relay (3:56.83).
Dowling won eight of the 12 events, including two of the three relays. The Maroons finished about 5 seconds ahead of Northwest in the 400 freestyle relay to secure the team title.
Dowling’s Kimber Corwin won both the 200 IM and the 500 freestyle. The Maroons also got victories from Taylor Hall in the 50 freestyle, Charlotte Qualley in the 100 freestyle and Ginger Fay in the 100 breaststroke after teammate Mylee Dirks won the diving event on Thursday.
Northwest won the 200 freestyle relay and also got wins from Addie DeYoung in the butterfly and Riley Gojkovich in the backstroke. Tori Kettles of Waukee won the 200 freestyle.
Ankeny will now have two weeks to prepare for the regional meet, which will be held at two different sites. The diving competition will be held at the Waukee Natatorium on Nov. 5, then Ankeny will host the swimming events on Nov. 7 at Trail Point Aquatics Center.
