How the Ames girls qualified for state in cross country, 2 Little Cyclone boys also advance
The Ames girls are heading back to the cross country state finals and they'll be joined by two members of the Little Cyclone boys team.
The Ames girls, ranked sixth in Class 4A, took second to No. 5 Johnston at the Class 4A qualifying meet held at Pickard Park in Indianola on Wednesday.
The Little Cyclone girls scored 56 points to come in behind Johnston's score of 29. Southeast Polk, the 20th-ranked team in 4A, came in just behind Ames as the final qualifying team out of seven schools with 66 points.
The Ames boys had two runners punch their ticket to state with top-15 individual times in Zach Lenkaitis and Ahmed Aldamak. The boys, ranked 13th, just missed making it as a team, placing fourth out of nine teams with 78 points, just 12 points behind Southeast Polk.
Johnston also won the boys team championship. The third-ranked Dragons scored 39 points to just edge second-ranked Norwalk's 41 points for first.
Here is what we learned from how the Ames teams ran at Indianola.
Claire Helmers bounces back
Claire Helmers, the No. 12 runner in 4A, wasn't at her best during the Iowa Alliance Conference meet last week in Marshalltown.
Helmers ran a 5-kilometer time of 18:36.2 at the conference meet. She took a big step forward at Indianola, clocking in at 18:21.47 to place third behind seventh-ranked Olivia Verde (18:14.93) and 15th-ranked Alyx Woodly (18:19.30) of Johnston.
“Last week I was just kind of not in it,” Helmers said. “Other stuff was happening to me outside of cross country and that was kind of taking a toll on me. This week I just came out and knew I had to push it. I was mentally prepared more for this week.”
Two other Ames girls qualify individually
Two of Helmers' sophomore classmates, Marley Turk and Lauren Risdal, also qualified individually for state after placing in the top 15.
Turk, ranked No. 8 in 4A, didn't have her best race. But she still performed well after crossing the finish line in 18:49.76 to finish fourth.
“I felt a little bit tired from the workout we did, but I tried to push through that,” Marley Turk said. “Even if I’m not feeling 100% I can still have a race that I’m proud of. That’s what I wanted to do and I did that.”
Risdal took ninth in the girls race. She finished the course in 19:49.87.
“I felt really good about my race today,” Risdal said. “My place and time were good and I felt focused throughout the whole thing.”
Ames girls ready to make a big run at state
Ames showed its depth at the qualifying meet with three more runners placing in the top 16.
Payton Stewart just missed the state cut with a 17th-place time of 20:24.06. Her senior classmate Sydney Turk battled through an illness to place 23rd in 20:51.73 as the final runner to score points for the Little Cyclones.
Freshman Meredith Frandsen was 26th in 21:10.50 to just miss the scoring cut for Ames. Track star Cameron Moon also ran for Ames Wednesday, placing 32nd in 22:13.33.
“We wanted to show up today and qualify,” Stewart said. “That was our goal and we did that. At state next week we’ll catch the other teams.”
Ames finished third in 4A at last year's state meet with Helmers, Risdal, Stewart and the Turk sisters all back from that team.
Zach Lenkaitis, Ahmed Aldamak peaking at the right time for the Ames boys
The Ames boys were heartbroken they just missed out on qualifying as a team.
But the Little Cyclones can take solace in getting two runners through to Fort Dodge as individuals.
Lenkaitis ran the best race of his career Wednesday. The Ames sophomore ran a PR 5k time of 16:34.42 to place 12th.
"I've PR'd the last three weeks," Lenkaitis said. "It feels like the work is paying off. This is the meet we've trained for and ti feels good for it to pay off."
Aldamak, a junior, has been battling an illness, but he found enough strength to push his way through Wednesday after finishing the boys race in 16:35.33.
"I've had a really good connection with my teammates and two weeks ago I started getting sick and every day these guys were giving me positive motivation and always helping me," Aldamak said. "These guys helped me all the way through. I want to say I did it, but they did it also."
Ames senior Jonathon Williams just missed the state cut, placing 16th in 16:50.03.
Johnston's Jaxson Plumb, ranked eighth in 4A, was the boys individual champion at Indianola with a time of 15:38.98 and Southeast Polk's Carson Owens, ranked 10th, also broke 16 minutes with a time of 15:58.50.
The 4A races at the 2022 state cross country meet will be run on Saturday, Oct. 29 at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. The girls run at 2 p.m. and the boys will follow at 2:45.
Ames boys have a bright future
Even though they fell just short of making the state finals as a team, the Little Cyclone boys showed they should be a force to be reckoned with next season.
In addition to Lenkaitis and Aldamak coming back next year, Ames also returns 2021 state qualifier Charlie Bennett, who took 26th in 17:22.56 Wednesday. Sophomore Brennen Bhave, who placed 22nd at Indianola in 17:04.34, and junior Erik Anderson, who took 20th in 17:01.31 will also be back.
The Little Cyclone boys will miss Williams and Grant Crespi, who finished 17th Wednesday in 16:53.52. But with the bulk of their talent back they'll have a good shot at getting the whole team to Fort Dodge in 2023.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ames girls, 2 Little Cyclone boys qualify for state in cross country
