PEORIA, Ill. – Iowa State junior Maelle Porcher qualified for the 2024 NCAA Championships and the Iowa State women picked up two Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series points at the 2024 NCAA Midwest Regional cross country meet.

“I was very pleased to see our women have their best race of the year at the Midwest Regional!” said director of track & field/cross country Jeremy Sudbury. “This group had a lot of heart and grit and although the season has not gone the way they would have wanted it to, their resilience and effort was on full display today.”

The Cyclones finished fourth as a team, led by Porcher’s podium finish, to best their in-state foe as the Hawkeyes finished 17th. Porcher started the race strong, running with the front pack early and was tied for sixth through the first 2K mark. She improved to fifth at the 3K mark and jumped again to fourth at the 4K and 5K marks. The junior made her final push into third ahead of the finish and earned the second individual automatic qualifying spot with her time of 19:52.8.

Porcher will run at her third straight NCAA Championships, after qualifying as an individual for CBU in 2022 before running as part of Iowa State’s qualifying team last season. It will mark the 16th consecutive season and the Cyclone women will have a representative running at the national championship meet.

Coach Sudbury was elated that Porcher will have the chance to compete next weekend after a great race Friday morning, saying “Maelle was brilliant in her individual race and I couldn’t be more excited for her to get to race next week at NCAAs!”

Redshirt-juniors Riley Beach and Bella Heikes also finished in the top 25 to help the Iowa State effort and earned All-Midwest Region honors along with Porcher. Beach was 18th in 20:20.75 while Heikes finished 21st less than a few seconds later in 20:22.50. The young Cyclones gained great experience at the regional meet as well, as freshmen Ruby Hughes (42nd, 20:47.53) and sophomore Sheridan Wheeler (55th, 20:57.67) rounded out ISU’s top five.

“Coach Wallace is going to build off this finish and have his team ready to get back to NCAAs next year,” said Sudbury.

Up Next
Porcher will prepare for the 2024 NCAA Championships next Saturday, November 23. Start time for the women’s 6K in Madison is set for 9:20 a.m. CT at the Zimmer Championships Cross Country Course.

Team Results
1. No. 19 Oklahoma State, 61; 2. No. 23 Minnesota, 76; 3. Northwestern, 103; 4. Iowa State, 139; 5. Nebraska, 181; 6. Bradley, 203; 7. Oklahoma, 222; 8. Illinois, 261; 9. Loyola (Ill.), 261; 10. Tulsa, 303; 11. Missouri, 316; 12. South Dakota State, 392; 13. Kansas, 404; 14. Kansas State, 427; 15. UNI, 435; 16. Drake, 439; 17. Iowa, 478; 18. North Dakota State, 485; 19. Illinois State, 532; 20. DePaul, 567; 21. North Dakota, 576; 22. South Dakota, 595; 23. Saint Louis, 619; 24. Wichita State, 654; 25. Eastern Illinois, 681; 26. Missouri State, 701; 27. Oral Roberts, 767; 28. SE Missouri, 769; 29. Illinois-Chicago, 779; 30. Omaha, 820; 31. Creighton, 825; 32. Southern Illinois, 993; 33. SIU Edwardsville, 1025

Individual Results
1. Leah Jeruto, Oklahoma, 19:42.87; 3. Maelle Porcher, Iowa State, 19:52.8; 18. Riley Beach, Iowa State, 20:20.8; 21. Bella Heikes, Iowa State, 20:22.5; 42. Ruby Hughes, Iowa State, 20:47.5; 55. Sheridan Wheeler, Iowa State 20:57.7; 58. Taylor Briggs, Iowa State, 20:58.8; 67. Kiki Connell, Iowa State, 21:11.20