Ankeny senior Tim Sindt will continue his quest for an undefeated cross country season when the Hawks compete in a Class 4A state qualifying meet on Thursday at Pickard Park in Indianola.
Sindt, the defending Class 4A champion, is the state’s top-ranked runner. He has yet to lose a race this season.
The sixth-ranked Hawks will be one of 10 teams in the Indianola field. No. 1 Dowling Catholic and No. 10 Southeast Polk are the other ranked teams in the field.
Dowling boasts a pair of top-10 runners in third-ranked Sam Hall and No. 7 Zach Fry. Those two finished second and third, respectively, behind Sindt at the CIML Central Conference meet on Oct. 11 at Southeast Polk.
There will be five state qualifying meets for all classes. Ankeny Centennial will compete in a meet at Marshalltown Community College.
From each of the state qualifying meets, the first three teams will advance to the state meet on Oct. 27 at Fort Dodge. The top 15 individual finishers will also qualify.
The No. 12 Centennial girls’ team will be joined in the Marshalltown field by No. 2 Waukee and No. 9 Iowa City West. The Jaguars are seeking a sixth consecutive trip to the state meet.
The Centennial boys’ squad also appears to have a good chance to qualify. There are only two ranked teams in the boys’ field–No. 5 Waukee and No. 12 Ames.
The Ankeny girls’ team faces the most difficult road to the state meet. The Hawkettes will have to defeat one of three top-10 opponents–No. 3 Southeast Polk, No. 7 Dowling or No. 10 Des Moines Roosevelt–in order to qualify.
Both meets will begin at 4 p.m.