Former Ankeny standout Tim Sindt and the Iowa State men’s cross country team will compete for a national championship on Saturday at Madison, Wis. The Cyclones are seeking their third top-five finish in the last four seasons.
Iowa State held steady at No. 4 in the Week 6 USTFCCCA Coaches Poll. The Cyclones are coming off a runner-up finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Peoria, Ill., earning an automatic bid to the national championship meet for the ninth time in the last 10 years.
Sindt earned all-Midwest Region honors for the third time by placing 22nd in the 10K race with a time of 29:53.8. All of the Cyclones earned all-Midwest Region honors finishing in the top 25 individually.
“Discipline and execution sums up the men’s day,” said director of track & field/cross country Jeremy Sudbury. “Our depth was on full display by being able to rest three athletes from conference that were in our top eight and still have seven all-Region finishers!”
Iowa State has been ranked fourth nationally for four straight weeks now and has not been out of the top five all season. The Cyclones opened the season with a win at the Cyclone Preview in Ames before claiming runner-up finishes at the Nuttycombe Invitational and Wisconsin Pre-Nationals. ISU finished third behind then-No. 2 BYU and top-ranked Oklahoma State at the Big 12 Championships.
The men’s race begins at 10:10 a.m. Both the men’s and women’s races will be televised on ESPNU.
“The Cyclones are catching momentum heading into the final,” Sudbury said. “If you can make the drive, we’d love to have Cyclone Nation pack the course on Saturday!”
Sindt, a two-time state champion at Ankeny, earned all-Big 12 honors in 2021. He was named to the all-Big 12 Rookie Team in 2020, and he is a four-time academic all-Big 12 honoree in cross country and track.
Sindt has been named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll eight times.