Breaking Down the Area Class 4A Girls State Qualifying Cross Country Meets
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
The finish line of the cross country season is in sight.
Championship season heats up this week with state qualifying meets set for Wednesday and Thursday with teams and individuals earning spots at the 2023 state cross country meet schedule for October 27 and 28 at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
Before turning our attention to the state meet next week we take a quick look at what to watch at each of the Class 4A girls state qualifying meets featuring Your Prep Sports area teams.
Class 4A Meet (Ames)
When: Wednesday, 4 p.m.
Teams: Liberty High; Ames; Ankeny; Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln; Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson; Dallas Center-Grimes; Fort Dodge; Sioux City East; Sioux City North; Sioux City West
Where: Iowa State University Cross Country Course
Ranked teams: No. 5 Dallas Center-Grimes; No. 8 Ankeny; No. 17 Ames; No. 19 Liberty High
Ranked individuals: No. 3 Claire Helmers, Jr., Ames; No. 4 Drew Beason, Jr., Ankeny Centennial; No. 6 Piper Messerley, Fr., Dallas Center-Grimes; No. 22 Lauren Risdal, Jr., Ames; No. 29 Cori Mac, Sr., Liberty High; No. 30 Emily Meyers, Jr., Dallas Center-Grimes
Team title chase: The battle for the team title should be a good one with Dallas Center-Grimes and Ankeny expected to fight for the top spot.
Ames is hosting and could get a boost from being at home and Liberty High should be in the mix to secure the first team trip to state in program history.
Individual race: This sets up as one of the best individual races in 4A on Wednesday with a trio of top-six ranked runners battling for the individual crown.
Ames junior Claire Helmers, Ankeny junior Drew Beason and Dallas Center-Grimes freshman Piper Messerley are expected to be at the front of the pack from the outset.
Helmers and Beason are both returning state medalists with plenty of postseason experience.
Beason was 15th last season while Helmers was seventh at state a year ago and has the advantage of running on her ‘home’ course.
Athlete to watch: Liberty High senior Cori Mac was a state qualifier as a freshman in 2019 and will attempt to bookend her cross country career with another state meet trip this season.
Mac was slowed by injuries as a sophomore and junior but has enjoyed a strong senior season and has been impressive down the stretch.
She was 16th at the MVC Super Meet before finishing fourth overall in a time of 19:10.5 at the MVC Mississippi Divisional last week.
Look for the 29th ranked Mac to be toward the front of the pack and to push for a top-five finish on Wednesday.
Breakdown: Ankeny and Ames were both top-10 teams at the state meet last season and join Dallas Center-Grimes in a solid field.
Liberty High has the ability to push for a top-three spot.
The Lightning have been solid while competing against top-notch competition the last two weeks at the MVC meets, finishing eighth behind seven ranked teams at the Super Meet before placing fourth at the Divisional last week.
The Lightning have a pair of strong seniors in Mac and Bridget Canton and with strong efforts from juniors Clara Welch and Mimi Marquardt and sophomores Carleigh Maher and Peyten Eide Liberty High can be in mix for a spot at state.
Class 4A Meet (Iowa City West)
When: Wednesday, 4 p.m.
Where: Ashton Cross Country Course
Teams: West High; Ankeny Centennial; Burlington; Cedar Falls; Cedar Rapids Jefferson; Muscatine; North Scott; Waterloo East; Waukee
Ranked teams: No. 7 Ankeny Centennial; No. 10 Waukee; No. 12 Cedar Falls; No. 15 West High
Ranked individuals: No. 5 Anika Mohrhauser, Jr., Ankeny Centennial; No. 14 Kate Van Waning, Soph., West High; No. 16 Michelle McConkey, Soph., Waukee; No. 24 Cora Den Hartog, Jr., Ankeny Centennial; No. 25 Sydney Burrier, Soph., Waukee
Team title chase: This very well could be the most tightly contested team race from first to fourth of all the 4A qualifying meets.
Experience and a runner-up finish at the CIML meet last week make Ankeny Centennial the favorite. The Jaguars return much of their roster from a team that placed fourth at the state meet last season including ranked juniors Anika Mohrhauser and Cora Den Hartog.
The final two spots will be a battle between Waukee, Cedar Falls and host West High.
Individual race: Ankeny junior Anika Mohrhauser finished 16th at the state meet last season as a junior and has amped up her racing this season.
Mohrhauser finished third at the CIML meet last week behind Johnston senior Olivia Verde and Ankeny junior Drew Beason and is the favorite in a solid field on Wednesday.
Athlete to watch: West High sophomore Kate Van Waning will seek to add a state tournament berth to what has already been a breakthrough season.
Van Waning emerged early as the leader of the West High pack and has shined down the stretch finishing eighth at the MVC Super Meet and sixth at the Valley Divisional meet last week.
Look for Van Waning to run at the front of the pack on Wednesday on a course she knows well as she attempts to secure her first trip to the state meet.
Breakdown: There may not be much separation between the second and fourth place teams in a field that appears to be relatively even behind Ankeny Centennial.
West High has the advantage of running on a course it knows well, something that could help the Trojans close the gap on Cedar Falls which finished 50 points in front of West High at the MVC Super Meet.
West High has gotten a big boost down the stretch from freshman Susanna Olson who was 18th at the Valley Divisional meet and will need strong races from veterans Cindy Wang, Erinn Varga and Gabby Moniza to earn a spot at state.
Class 4A Meet (Pleasant Valley)
When: Wednesday, 4 p.m.
Where: Crow Creek Park
Teams: City High; Bettendorf; Cedar Rapids Kennedy; Clinton; Davenport Central; Davenport North; Davenport West; Dubuque Hempstead; Pleasant Valley; Cedar Rapids Prairie
Ranked teams: No. 3 Dubuque Hempstead; No. 4 Pleasant Valley; No. 9 City High; No. 18 Cedar Rapids Prairie
Ranked individuals: No. 2 Keelee Leitzen, Sr., Dubuque Hempstead; No. 8 Ani Wedemeyer, Jr., City High; No. 10 Julia Gehl, Sr., Dubuque Hempstead; No. 12 Camryn Sattler, Sr., Clinton; No. 13 Abigail Burns, Soph., City High; No. 18 Grace Boleyn, Jr., Pleasant Valley; No. 28 Evie Henneberry, Jr., Dubuque Hempstead
Team title chase: Defending 4A state champion Dubuque Hempstead is the favorite to claim the title at the state qualifier with the top competition coming from Pleasant Valley and City High.
Pleasant Valley was sixth at the state meet last season and City High was 15th at the 4A meet a year ago.
Hempstead was runner-up at the MVC Super Meet and won the Valley Division title and should contend for another state title next week.
Individual race: Dubuque Hempstead senior Keelee Leitzen has been among the best runners in the state the past four seasons and will look to cap her career with a fourth consecutive state medal and top-10 finish.
Leitzen won the 4A title in 2020, was fifth in 2021 and finished eighth at the state meet last season.
She has been impressive this season and is coming off individual titles at both the MVC Super Meet and MVC Valley Divisional meets.
The top competition for Leitzen will be from teammate Julia Gehl and City High junior Ani Wedemeyer.
Leitzen finished 21 seconds in front of Wedemeyer at the MVC Super Meet but Wedemeyer closed that gap to just more than 14 seconds at the Valley Division meet last week.
Athlete to watch: Wedemeyer has continued to pick up steam as the season goes on as the dynamic City High junior seeks to earn the first state medal of her career.
Wedemeyer finished 27th at the state meet last season after placing 31st in her debut season in 2021.
This season has been the best or Wedemeyer who finished fourth at the MVC Super Meet and was runner-up to Leitzen at the Divisional meet last week.
Wedemeyer finished in front of Gehl at both MVC meets and will attempt to keep pace with Leitzen on Wednesday.
Breakdown: City High has gained momentum all season and enters the state qualifying meet running the best it has all season.
The Little Hawks will have a hard time catching Dubuque Hempstead but should secure a top-three finish and a spot at the state meet.
City High was third at the MVC Super Meet and runner-up to Hempstead at the divisional meet last week.
Wedemeyer has been the leader but the Little Hawks have gotten a huge boost with the emergence of sophomore Abigail Burns who enters the state qualifying meet ranked 13th and coming off a fifth-place finish at the MVC Divisional meet.
Junior Nicole Peterson has made big strides down the stretch along with freshman Grace Hamann and sophomore Claire Locher.
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