Ankeny boys swimming team finishes second at conference meet

Megan Teske
·3 min read
Ankeny's Lance Swanepoel, shown during the state boys swimming meet Feb. 13, 2021, had a strong week in the pool as the Hawks beat Mason City and then finished second at the conference meet.
Ankeny's Lance Swanepoel, shown during the state boys swimming meet Feb. 13, 2021, had a strong week in the pool as the Hawks beat Mason City and then finished second at the conference meet.

The Ankeny boys swim team ended an already strong week on a high note when the Hawks competed at the conference meet and placed second.

The Hawks ended their dual meet schedule taking on Mason City on Jan. 20, winning 83-11. Ankeny took first in all 11 events and was led by junior Lance Swanepoel and sophomore Owen Schwebach. Both Swanepoel and Schwebach won two individual events and Swanepoel also contributed to two winning relays as well.

Swanepoel won the 100 meter butterfly at a time of 52.07 seconds, breaking a pool record on the way, and also won the 50 meter freestyle in a time of 23.12 seconds.

Schwebach took first in the 200 meter freestyle with a time of 1:51.93 and also grabbed the top spot in the 100 meter freestyle at a 50.80 second clip.

Ankeny carried the winning feeling into the conference meet Jan. 22, where the Hawks placed second overall behind Ames. The Hawks finished the day with 424 team points behind Ames’ 494 total points.

Leading Ankeny was Swanepoel once again, who grabbed an individual win as well as a relay win. Swanepoel finished first in the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 47.84 seconds and joined up with Schwebach, junior Calvin Howard and senior Zach Zinn to win the 400-meter freestyle relay in a time of 3:17.37.

Schwebach grabbed a pair of second-place finishes. He finished second in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 48.99 seconds as well as in the 100-meter breaststroke, finishing with a time of 1:03.79.

The Hawks will now prepare for the district meet taking place at 12 p.m. Feb. 5 at Southeast Polk High School.

Centennial girls basketball wins big

The Ankeny Centennial girls basketball team made it six in a row after beating Mason City 67-17 on Jan. 21.

Centennial had control of the game from the start, going up 22-6 at the end of the first quarter and extending that lead to 36-12 by halftime.

The Jaguars had a solid night of shooting to go along with strong defense, shooting the ball at a 65.8 percent clip from the field and 44.4 percent from three.

Centennial also had 10 steals in the game and turned the Mohawks over 19 times.

Leading Centennial in the win were senior Cleao Murray and junior Kennedy White. Murray put up a team-high 20 points on seven of nine shooting and also brought down three rebounds. White put 13 points on the scoreboard on five for five shooting while leading the team in rebounds with five.

Also contributing to the win was junior Averi Porter, who had nine points and a team-leading three assists. Freshman Ava Martin led the team with four steals.

The Jaguars will look to make it a seven-game win streak when they take on Des Moines East at 6:15 p.m. Jan. 25 at Des Moines East High School.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ankeny boys swimming team finishes second at conference meet