AMES – The Cyclone cross country teams faced elite national competition in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday, and the Cyclone women delivered one of their best performances of the season in the Nuttycombe Invitational.

30 teams competed in the women’s meet and 32 competed in the men’s competition, with over half of the teams being ranked in the most recent men’s and women’s U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country National Coaches Poll. 

The invitational gave the Cyclone women an opportunity to continue their upward trajectory while also allowing the Cyclone men to get a deeper look at their depth.

Men’s Recap

The Iowa State men rested its top five runners from the Gans Creek Invitational in late September, allowing director of cross country Jeremy Sudbury to test the team’s depth. While the team finished 28th out of 32 competing teams, there were many positives to note from Iowa State’s performance.

Junior Seth Clevenger placed 19th out of over 250 runners. After not running at the Gans Creek Invitational and finishing fourth at the Cyclone Preview, a top-20 finish should give Clevenger confidence going into the rest of the season.

Senior Hanibal Haile finished 63rd with a time of 24:04.6. He ran ahead of Clevenger through the first 6,000 meters and should provide insurance in case of an injury to a top runner.

Sophomore Isaac Rivera, redshirt senior Quinton Orr and junior Emanuel Galdino rounded out Iowa State’s placing runners. Sophomore Allen Bonnesen, the winner of the Cyclone Preview, and junior Devan Kipyego, who placed sixth on the team at the Gans Creek Invitational, did not finish the race.

The men will continue their season at the Big 12 Championships on Oct. 31 as they attempt to avenge their third-place finish at the same event last year.

Women’s Recap

The Cyclone women came into the Nuttycombe Invitational as the tenth-highest-ranked team in the most recent USTFCCCA poll. It’s safe to say the women will continue their ascent up the rankings after an extremely encouraging performance Friday when the Week 4 polls are released Tuesday.

Iowa State finished third at the meet, and with four runners placing in the top 30, the Cyclones have a strong core of runners to rely on for the rest of the season.

Freshman Mercyline Kirwa followed up her third-place finish at the Gans Creek Invitational with a fifth-place finish Friday. Kirwa used a strong final 2,000 in both meets to surge to a top-five finish, and she’s positioned herself to earn All-American honors this season.

Senior Maelle Porcher and redshirt freshman Betty Kipkore finished in 13th and 14th, respectively. This is both runners’ second top-20 finish of the season.

Friday marked freshman Mercy Kibet’s first collegiate race, and she made the most of it. Kibet finished fourth on the team and 29th overall, an exceptionally strong performance for the freshman.

Sophomore Ruby Hughes was the final scoring runner for the Cyclone women, edging out teammate and fellow junior Sydney Morrell by eight seconds. The performance of Iowa State’s fifth runner will be critical as the Cyclones aim to continue vaulting up the polls.

Iowa State finished ahead of several higher-ranked teams, including No. 9 West Virginia, the only team ahead of Iowa State in the Midwest Region rankings. The Cyclones also finished ahead of T-14th-ranked Utah and Penn State, No. 11 Stanford and No. 10 Colorado, who all ran its top runners from previous races.

The Cyclone women will compete at the Big 12 Championships on Oct. 31, where they finished seventh in the conference last year.