Ames girls turn in another top-10 state finish, boys show progress during cross country season

The 2022 season saw continued success for the Ames cross country programs.

The Ames girls turned in another top-10 finish at state in Class 4A and the boys sent two runners to Fort Dodge. Both teams also won the North Division at the inaugural Iowa Alliance Conference meet.

The Ames girls followed up last year's third-place finish at state by placing ninth in 4A at this year's state meet. The Little Cyclones scored 211 points to finish just one point behind Waukee's eighth-place score and 11 in back of Ankeny's seventh-place finish.

Ames had a lot of momentum going into the state meet. The Little Cyclones took third at the prestigious Fort Dodge Invitational featuring most of the top programs in the state then won conference and came in second at the 4A qualifying meet in Indianola.

"We grew the most toward the end of the season once we got to October," Ames head girls coach Cole Anderson said. "We put in a lot of miles during the summer and first part of the season that set us up for the championship part of the season."

Though Ames brought back most of its talent off last year's outstanding team, the season wasn't an easy ride. Runners dealt with health and personal issues throughout the season, making it tough for everything to come together like it did at the end of 2021.

"We did have a lot of setbacks and obstacles that got in our way, which hindered our progress," said. "I'm happy with how we competed."

Ames placed third at Mount Vernon, fifth at the Kirk Schmalz Invitational in Ames, sixth at Marshalltown, third at Cedar Falls and second at Southeast Polk before its big October run.

More:Ames girls place ninth in 4A at state cross country meet: Claire Helmers, Marley Turk both medal

Despite the challenges the Ames runners faced, several of them showed improvement from the previous season.

Lead runner Claire Helmers and her sophomore running mate Marley Turk both earned an individual medal at state.

Helmers followed up last year's 10th-place finish at state by coming seventh in 4A at the 2022 state meet with a 5-kilometer time of 18:22.05. That easily bested her 18:57.87 showing at the 2021 state meet.

Helmers' best time of the season was 18:21.

After coming in two spots shy of placing at last year's state meet with a 17th-place showing Turk earned a spot on the medal deck at state in 2022. She took ninth in 4A with an 18:32.41 showing, besting her 2021 state time by 41.83 seconds.

Turk ran the fastest 5K time all season for the Ames girls at 18:13.

The third Ames sophomore sensation, Lauren Risdal, finished 68th at state in 20:18.62. Her best time of the season was 19:46.

Seniors Payton Stewart and Sydney Turk rounded out the top five for the Ames girls.

Stewart was 85th and Sydney 87th at state with respective times of 20:49.81 and 20:50.44. Stewart's best time of the season was 19:58 and Sydney peaked at 20:18.

More:How Ames High's Turk sisters thrived while forming a special bond as cross country runners

Freshman Meredith Frandsen and senior newcomer Cameroon Moon rounded out the top seven for Ames. Frandsen ran a PR of 20:57.44 at state and Moon completed state in 22:05.19 and peaked at 21:51.

"Our biggest highlights for the season were winning conference and qualifying for state," Anderson said. "Clarie Helmers and Marley Turk had amazing races at state to get on the deck. Our girls really worked hard this season and I'm so very proud of all of their accomplishments."

With the outstanding sophomore class and Frandsen leading a talented group of freshmen that included Samantha Palmer and Hasom Park the future is bright for the Ames girls.

"Even though we lose a great group of seniors next year, we have a big group of freshmen coming in that will really help us out and we have four returning varsity runners from this year," Anderson said. "There are several girls ready to fill those empty spots. With another great summer of work, we will be ready to make that leap come next October. I can't wait."

Ames boys turn heads

The Ames boys cross country team made big strides in its second season under head coach Ravi Bhave.

In addition to winning the IAC North the Little Cyclone boys also took first at the Clear Lake and Indianola Invitational meets. At the end of the season they finished one spot shy of qualifying for state as a team, placing fourth at the qualifying meet in Indianola, scoring 78 points to finish just 12 points behind the final qualifying score of 66 by Southeast Polk.

"I think we made great strides as a program from last year to this year," Bhave said. "Last year we were fairly young as team and our focus was more on development. This year, we used the strength we had built up over the year to translate into racing. Having that strong base allowed us to grow into better racers and we focused more on different race strategies this season."

A big reason for the improvement was the rise of runners Ahmed Aldamak and Zach Lenkaitis. Both runners qualified for state for the first time this season.

More:How the Ames girls qualified for state in cross country, 2 Little Cyclone boys also advance

"Zach Lenkaitis was somewhat of a surprise," Bhave said. "After having coached him during the track season I thought he would have a good chance of making our varsity, but I didn’t think that he would have had the season that he did with being an individual qualifier. Ahmed Aldamak is sort of in that same boat, but his improvement we had seen with some of the road races he had done over summer. The leaps he made from last cross country season to track and then from track to this season were remarkable."

Lenkaitis took 12th and Aldamak 13th at the qualifying meet. At state Aldamak took 47th in 16:39.86 and Lenkaitis 70th in 17:00.95.

For the season Lenkaitis peaked with a 5K time of 16:34.4 at the qualifying meet and Aldamak's best time was 16:06.4 at the Schmalz Invitational.

More:Emergence of Ahmed Aldamak could lead the Ames boys to the state cross country meet

The fastest time all season for the Ames boys was run by 2021 state qualifier Charlie Bennett. Health issues prevented Bennett from having the junior season he wanted, but he still came up with a big highlight by breaking 16 minutes at the Schmalz Invite with a 15:57.8 showing.

Jonathon Williams was a strong senior leader for Ames and his best time was 16:17.7 at Fort Dodge. Senior Grant Crespi peaked at 16:33.3 during the IAC meet and sophomore Brennen Bhave and junior Erik Anderson also topped at the conference meet with respective times of 16:45.6 and 16:51.5.

Connor Johnson was a valuable senior leader for Ames. He ran a 17:12.1 at the conference meet.

With Williams, Crespi and Johnson the only departing runners among the top eight and three runners returning with state experience the Ames boys will have the potential to repeat as conference champions and qualify for state as a team in 2023.

"Having two individual qualifiers and having the other returning runners at the level they are at gives us a good jumping off point for next year," Ravi Bhave said. "I expect to make a big splash next year. The boys are excited about where we are going and are eager to continue their training."

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ames cross country teams enjoyed a successful 2022 season