Breaking Down the Class 4A State Cross Country Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
The two-day state cross country meet gets underway on Friday with races in Class 4A and Class 1A.
Your Prep Sports will have teams and individual qualifiers in both the boys and girls races in Class 4A on Friday morning at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
Before the 4A girls open the weekend of cross country Your Prep Sports offers a quick breakdown of Friday’s Class 4A races.
Class 4A
Girls Race
Where: Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge
When: Friday, 10:30 a.m.
Qualifying teams: *Dallas Center-Grimes; Ankeny; Ames; *Johnston; Waukee Northwest; Indianola; *Dubuque Senior; West Des Moines Valley; West Des Moines Dowling; *Ankeny Centennial; Waukee; Cedar Falls; *Pleasant Valley; Dubuque Hempstead; City High
*-state qualifying meet champions
Individual state qualifying meet champions: Claire Helmers, Jr., Ames; Olivia Verde, Sr., Johnston; Addison Dorenkamp, Sr., West Des Moines Valley; Anika Mohrhauser, Jr., Ankeny Centennial; Ani Wedmeyer, Jr., City High
2022 team top five: 1. Dubuque Hempstead 60; 2. Johnston 105; 3. Dubuque Senior 135; 4. Ankeny Centennial 151; 5. West Des Moines Valley 192
Last five team champions: 2022 – Dubuque Hempstead; 2021 – Dubuque Hempstead; 2020 – Johnston; 2019 – Johnston; 2018 – Southeast Polk
Returning state placewinners: 2. Olvia Verde, Sr., Johnston; 3. Julia Gehl, Sr., Dubuque Hempstead; 4. Addison Dorenkamp, Sr., West Des Moines Valley; 7. Claire Helmers, Jr., Ames; 8. Keelee Leitzen, Sr., Dubuque Hempstead; 9. Marley Turk, Jr., Ames; 10. Nakia Ollivierre, Soph., Waterloo West; 11. Dylan Moeller, Jr., Davenport Central; 12. Alyx Woodley, Soph., Johnston; 13. Leah Klapatauskas, Sr., Dubuque Senior; 14. Grace Boleyn, Jr., Pleasant Valley; 15. Drew Beason, Jr., Ankeny
Top ranked teams: 1. Johnston; 2. Dubuque Senior; 3. Dallas Center-Grimes; 4. Pleasant Valley; 5. Ankeny Centennial
Ranked area teams: No. 10 City High
Top ranked individuals: 1. Olivia Verde, Sr., Johnston; 2. Claire Helmers, Jr., Ames; 3. Addison Dorenkamp, Sr., West Des Moines Valley; 4. Drew Beason, Jr., Ankeny; 5. Anika Mohrhauser, Jr., Ankeny Centennial
Ranked area individuals: 7. Ani Wedemeyer, Jr., City High
Team title race: A year after Dubuque Hempstead won its second straight state title by 45 points expect a much tighter 4A team race on Friday.
Two-time defending champion Hempstead returns it’s top two finishers from last year’s title team in seniors Julia Gehl and Keelee Leitzen and will be in the mix but is coming off a runner-up finish at the state qualifier.
Johnston won titles in 2019 and 2020 before finishing runner-up last season and enters top-ranked and always a threat to claim team gold.
Keep an eye on Dubuque Senior which was third last season and appears to be peaking at just the right time after winning the state qualifying meet at Marshalltown.
Individual title tracker: The first race of the week could end up being the best with a pair of past individual champions and last year’s runner-up all in a strong 4A field.
Three of the top four finishers from last year’s 4A race are back this season led by 2022 runner-up and top-ranked Olivia Verde of Johnston.
West Des Moines Valley senior Addison Dorenkamp won the 4A title in 2021 and was fourth last season and Leitzen of Dubuque Hempstead won the 2020 title and placed eighth a year ago.
Don’t overlook Ames junior Claire Helmers who pulled away from another contender Drew Beason of Ankeny to win the state qualifying meet at Ames by more than 20 seconds.
Area breakdown: City High junior Ani Wedemeyer proved she was capable of running with the best in the state last week winning the individual title at the Pleasant Valley state qualifier in 18:39.
In winning the state qualifying meet Wedemeyer finished in front of three state medalists from a year ago in Leitzen and Gehl from Dubuque Hempstead and Pleasant Valley junior Grace Boleyn.
Already a two-time state qualifier, Wedemeyer has state meet experience and will look to break into the medal count this season with a big finish to a strong season.
A big day from Wedemeyer will be key for a young City High team that looks to continue to climb the 4A team standings.
The Little Hawks finished 15th last season and should improve on that a finish on Friday behind Wedemeyer and sophomore Abigail Burns.
Juniors Nicole and Nina Peterson offer state meet experience after placing 94th and 98th respectively last season.
Liberty High has four individual qualifiers and West High will send three individuals to state.
Junior Kalli Titus, sophomore Kate Van Waning and freshman Susanna Olson will all make their state meet debuts for West High.
Liberty High is led by senior Cori Mac who was a state qualifier as a freshman while juniors Mimi Marquardt and Clara Welch and senior Bridget Canton will make their debuts with the Lightning.
Boys Race
Where: Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge
When: Friday, 11:15 a.m.
Qualifying teams: *Ankeny; Liberty High; Dallas Center-Grimes; *Cedar Falls; Ankeny Centennial; Waukee; *West Des Moines Dowling; Urbandale; West Des Moines Valley; *Cedar Rapids Kennedy; Pleasant Valley; Dubuque Hempstead; *Waukee Northwest; Johnston; Norwalk
*-state qualifying meet champions
Individual state qualifying meet champions: Natnael Kifle, Sr., Sioux City North; Jaden Merrick, Soph., Cedar Falls; Tommy Hensley, Sr., Urbandale; Adam Gray, Soph., Cedar Rapids Kennedy; Owen Marett, Jr., Des Moines Roosevelt
2022 team top five: 1. West Des Moines Dowling 51; 2. Johnston 124; 3. Ankeny 158; 4. Norwalk 178; 5. Cedar Falls 179
Last five team champions: 2022 – West Des Moines Dowling; 2021 – West Des Moines Dowling; 2020 – Sioux City North; 2019 – West Des Moines Dowling; 2018 – West Des Moines Dowling
Returning state placewinners: 9. Jack Flori, Jr., West Des Moines Dowling; 10. John Maloney, Sr., Dubuque Hempstead; 11. Ethan Zuber, Jr., Ankeny; 12. AJ Schermerhorn, Sr., Ankeny Centennial; 14. Max DeRocher, Sr., West Des Moines Dowling
Top ranked teams: 1. West Des Moines Dowling; 2. Cedar Falls; 3. Ankeny; 4. Cedar Rapids Kennedy; 5. Waukee Northwest
Ranked area teams: No. 8 Liberty High
Top ranked individuals: 1. Natnael Kifle, Sr., Sioux City North; 2. Ethan Zuber, Jr., Ankeny; 3. Jaden Merrick, Soph., Cedar Falls; 4. AJ Schermerhorn, Sr., Ankeny Centennial; 5. Tommy Hensley, Sr., Urbandale
Ranked area individuals: 17. Aidan Decker, Sr., Liberty High; 18. Keegan Decker, Fr., Liberty High;
Team title race: West Des Moines Dowling cruised to its second consecutive title and fourth 4A crown in the past five seasons last season finishing 73 points in front of runner-up Johnston.
The Maroons once again enter as the favorite but unlike last season should have plenty of competition at the top of the 4A standings.
Ankeny was third a year ago and enters ranked fourth and Mississippi Valley Conference foes Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids Kennedy both won state qualifying meets and could push toward the top with strong days on Friday.
Individual title tracker: The top eight finishers last season were all seniors making room for a new crop of runners to race toward the top of Class 4A.
There are several capable of standing out from the pack on Friday.
At the top of that list are Sioux City North senior Natneal Kifle and Ankeny junior Ethan Zuber.
A four-time qualifier, Kifle was eighth two seasons ago and edged Zuber by less than half a second at the state qualifier winning in 15:20.5.
Zuber was 11th last season and will be in the mix along with Ankeny Centennial senior AJ Schermerhorn, Cedar Falls standout sophomore Jaden Merrick who was 18th a year ago and West Des Moines Dowling junior Jack Flori who is the top returning placer after finishing ninth last season.
Area breakdown: In just its seventh season as a program Liberty High will make its fourth trip to Fort Dodge on Friday, all coming in the past five season.
The best finish for the Lightning came in 2020 when they placed sixth in 4A and the Lightning could challenge that on Friday.
Senior Aidan Decker is a four-time state qualifier that has finished in the 42 each of the past three seasons.
Decker is seeking to end his career with his first medal after placing 24th at the state meet last season.
Keegan Decker would like to start his career with a medal.
The freshman has been impressive all season and enters the state meet coming off a fifth-place finish at the state qualifier.
City High senior Owyn Noble returns to state as an individual qualifier after running on the City High team that placed seventh last season.
Noble was 73rd at the state meet last year and will look to improve on that finish on Friday to cap a strong senior season that included an 11th place finish at the state qualifying meet.
West High has five individual qualifiers led by junior Moustafa Tiea, a two-time state qualifier who placed 51st last season.
Joining Tiea at the state meet are seniors Cade Benson and Michael Lee and juniors Brice Wahe and Sam Showers.
Lee finished 74th at the state meet as a sophomore in 2021.
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