Girls Cross Country Punches State Ticket

Ames girls cross country finished second in the IGHSAU Regional at Indianola to secure the team’s second consecutive team appearance at the state meet on October 29 in Fort Dodge.

The Little Cyclones return all five scorers from a state third-place finish a year ago. Claire Helmers, Marley Turk, Lauren Risdal, Sydney Turk, and Payton Stewart all ran in Fort Dodge as the Little Cyclones recorded a team score of 141 points to collect the bronze trophy.

This year, Claire Helmers and Marley Turk have been back-and-forth for the top position on the Little Cyclones lineup. At Wednesday’s regional, Helmers and Turk finished 3-4 individually while Lauren Risdal finished ninth to round out the Little Cyclones top 10 finishers.

On the boys side, Zachary Lenkaitis (12th) and Ahmed Aldamak (13th) finished in the top-15 to secure each runner a spot in the IHSAA State Meet on October 29. As a team, the boys missed team qualification by one spot – finishing fourth – just outside of the top three team qualifying positions.

FULL REGIONAL RESULTS: https://results.aatiming.com/meets/18850

IGHSAU STATE MEET CENTRAL: https://ighsau.org/news/2022-state-cross-country-tournament-central/

IHSAA STATE MEET CENTRAL: https://www.iahsaa.org/cross-country/state-meet-central/