The Hawks’ 25-26 basketball season took flight on Dec. 2, 2025, with a win against the Valley Tigers. The team garnered two more wins to open the season with a 3-0 start, their first opening game win and first 3-0 start in 5 years. 

It’s been 6 years since the Hawks’ last championship, and after an up-and-down last couple of seasons, which included a state semifinal appearance 2 years ago and a 10-12 team with a substate appearance last season, the Hawks are looking to get over the inconsistencies of previous seasons and bring a trophy home.

After the hot start, the Hawks’ momentum started to fade, dropping three straight games and losing two of the next three to bring their record to 4-5 through the first 9 games. Four of those losses came from top-10 4A schools, testing the Hawks early in the season and showcasing the difficulty of playing in a Class 4A basketball conference like the CIML.

The Hawks have hit a challenging stretch in their season, which will test the team’s skills, communication, and toughness. To bring back momentum and be successful as a team, the Hawks will have to rely on the foundation built during the preparation for the season and continue to sharpen these skills in practice. 

Before the first tip-off, the Hawks started their preparation in the summer by working on building their skills, and participating in scrimmages and camps, with the purpose of “working on knowing what each other will do because there’s a lot of new factors this year,” senior center Max Allison said.  

With a game like basketball, good communication is essential, and with a team of people with different skill levels, personalities, and experiences, it can be hard. Among the development of skills, the Hawks also focused on building connections during the summer. 

This emphasis on communication comes from one of the main struggles of last season. Senior guard, Rio Aguirre stated, “I think we could have been closer to each other off the court, which I think grows a connection on the court.” 

Allison echoed this by stating that connectivity was one of the biggest challenges, and there was a lot of internal fighting during the last season. A culture change has been seen this season as a growing connection shines on and off the court. 

“I think that our culture has gotten a lot better, so we all have a really good bond with each other, which I think helps on the court, especially in big, close games,” Aguirre said. 

This has been seen especially in the tougher games, where instead of being at each other’s throats, the hawks can be supportive and rely on each other to make the next effort a better one.

With connection and teamwork, another key component to a successful team is being physical and playing hard. 

“A big thing we worked on is getting in the weight room, being stronger, being able to push back on the tougher teams and the bigger teams,” Allison said.

Going into the season, Ankeny had strong starters returning, such as Rio Aguirre, Drew Sorensen, and Jasani Campbell, and they had players stepping up into new roles. Max Allison stepped into the starting Center position, and sophomore forward Keyon Ford transitioned from the freshman team to a new environment on varsity. 

With different playing dynamics and experience levels, trusting those around you is essential for a team to succeed.

“[Trust] is something that’s been emphasized a lot. We need to just be able to trust each other. 
You don’t have to think that it’s just you out there,” Allison continued. “You just need to be unselfish and trust the guys next to you.” 

Through the start of the season, the Hawks have already shown a lot of growth and readiness to play at a high level. At the same time, they recognize the areas for improvement 

“I think a weakness is that we haven’t been shooting as well as we should. But we’re playing really hard right now, and we’re rebounding and doing a lot of stuff well. We just got to make shots,” sophomore Keyon Ford said.

The Hawks have managed to keep high-caliber teams to lower performances, but sometimes lack the ability to finish the job. Throughout the season, it appears this will improve as the team’s relentless play style and “play hard“ mentality mix with their growing chemistry and can make them a top team to look out for.

Now looking towards the future, the Hawks get ready for their next 12 matchups, with six of them being against teams ranked in the top 10 in Class 4A, but the Hawks aren’t focused on rankings or talk. 

“Since the start of the season, we’ve been told that teams are going to be good too, but we have to just out-tough them,” Aguirre said. 
”We have to come into every game, prepare to go to battle the whole time, and not be soft.”

This mindset showcases the long-term focus for the Hawks that goes beyond opponents or rankings, but every game on the road to state. 

“Every game we play is going towards the state championship. Every game is as important as that state championship, ’cause those are the games leading up to it, and that’s what’s gonna get you there. And that’s our end goal,” Allison said.