Friday’s Roy Griak Invitational at St. Paul, Minn., provided an opportunity for the Ankeny cross country teams to compete in one of the premier races in the Midwest.
More than 40 teams participated in both the boys’ and girls’ championship divisions, attracting schools from multiple states. Each race had a field of more than 400 runners.
“It was our first time running at this meet on this course, and it definitely created some challenges for us,” said Ankeny boys’ coach Jon LIndaman. “I think new routines, new race plans, and the unknown made it hard to feel really confident. It is a really difficult course that was long so time had to be completely thrown out the window.”
The sixth-ranked Hawks placed 14th in the boys’ division with 463 points. No. 1 Dowling Catholic won the team title with 162 points, edging Sioux Falls (S.D.) Lincoln by 10 points.
“The competitor in me was hoping for a bit better team place,” Lindaman said. “This is a group that has a lot of big meet experience. I keep saying we are a better team than the results have shown, but we are getting to the time of year where kids have to decide what our identity is going to be. We need to run with a little more attitude. We need to close the spread among our scoring runners, and we need to finish the last K much stronger than we did at Griak.”
The No. 8 Ankeny girls’ team, meanwhile, finished 18th with 533 points. No. 2 Johnston was the top finisher from Iowa, placing fourth with 248 points.
Cardinal Gibbons won the girls’ crown with 94 points. Defending champion Wayzata (Minn.) was second with 124.
“This was considered one of the toughest meets in the country because of the level of competition,” said Ankeny girls’ coach TJ Jumper. “The meet allows us to achieve some of our program goals. We want our athletes to see the next level beyond our current level. This does that with the college races and the competition. It also allows us to be in a big meet situation and allows us to practice how we will respond in those situations. The course and competition makes our team face adversity and we find out if we will respond. This weekend will help propel us to the championship part of our season.
“This was a great bonding experience for not only our team but also with our boys’ team,” he added.
Ethan Zuber was the Hawks’ top finisher. He placed third in the 5K race with a time of 15 minutes 58 seconds.
“It was a really nice day. A little bit of heat, but it wasn’t too bad,” said Zuber. “The race was a great experience. Lots to learn from, and we saw some growth from a few guys on the varsity squad.”
Robert Mechura of Roseville Area won the boys’ race in 15:35, finishing 17 seconds ahead of Minnetonka’s Sean Fries. This was the first time since the 2022 state meet that Zuber didn’t place first or second in a race.
“I thought many of our kids did some nice things that we can build on,” Lindaman said. “It was a loaded field and the competitor in (Zuber) really wanted that win, but these past couple races will only provide more fuel to prove his doubters wrong.”
Isaiah Smith placed 40th for the Hawks in 16:54. Nicholas Robie took 150th in 17:52, Justice Rathje was 156th in 17:54, Jackson Kaiser placed 187th in 18:09, Tate Brownsberger was 195th in 18:14, Zach Riley was 212th in 18:19, Brett Augustine finished 213th in 18:20, Miles Harbert placed 262nd in 18:43, and Brayden Nixt was 343rd in 19:20.
“Smith took a fall early in the crowded field–which he will never use as an excuse–but continued to battle all race long,” Lindaman said. “Robie and Rathje are working well together and continue to have strong senior seasons. Brownsberger looked the best he has all season. Kaiser, Riley and Augustine all picked off a ton of guys the final mile of the race. Harbert and Nixt looked very composed and got some great big meet experience.”
Ella Hagen of Summit won the girls’ race in a time of 18:03. She finished 8 seconds ahead of Libby Castelli of O’Gorman.
Drew Beason was the Hawkettes’ top finisher. She placed 32nd in a time of 19:55.
“It was really hot, but I felt pretty good about my race!” said Beason. “I ran with people I needed to run with and felt pretty confident throughout the race.”
Ankeny’s Makenna Madetzke took 41st in 20:11, Sophia Graber was 105th in 21:02, Lauren Jackson placed 172nd in 21:34, Raegan Prendergast finished 260th in 22:26, Ivy Wiegand was 267th in 22:28, Bella Sullivan took 289th in 22:43, Ella Schulz placed 291st in 22:44, and Vanessa Wise finished 305th in 22:55.
“The team met all of our goals for the meet,” Jumper said. “This course is the hardest we will run all year with all the hills and was also a little longer than 3.1 miles. We took a step forward in our performance. Every athlete executed their race plan. Drew ran really well, Makenna had a 45-second improvement from what she ran last year at this meet, and Raegan ran way faster than she did last year. Lauren and Sophia are running so consistent and are so reliable for us. This was also great experience for some of our runners competing for varsity spots and for the future of our program as Ivy, Ella, Vanessa and Bella ran superb races.”
The Ankeny boys’ team will compete in the Eastern Iowa Classic on Thursday at the Seminole Valley cross country course in Cedar Rapids.
“This group has done all the right things and worked really hard,” Lindaman said. “We have been in this position before at this time of the season, and always finished strong. As long as these kids keep believing in themselves and this team, they will close out the season very strong. I’m really looking forward to racing at Seminole Valley.”