The Southwest Valley Girls Basketball team is looking to rebound after a disappointing season a year ago. Despite finishing with a 2-17 regular season record, the Timberwolves were competitive last season. Out of their 18 losses, five of them were by five points or less. They were also able to win their regional quarterfinal game against Central Decatur before falling in the semi-final to Nodaway Valley. Couple this with a young roster that had only had seniors, it’s a team that has room to grow. Head Coach Mike Cormack is hopeful about the coming season and proud of the work his players have put in during the offseason.

The Timberwolves do return both of the top scorers from a year ago. Hailey Randall put up 12 points per game and 2.8 steals while Mackenzie Fast averaged 8 points a game with 8.3 rebounds per contest. In addition to Fast and Randall, Cormack is also looking forward to watching the continued development of some of his depth players that he knows will need to contribute.

Cormack thinks the biggest improvement his team can make this year is closing out games in the fourth quarter.

Southwest Valley is a team with a lot of room to grow. Returning two top scorers plus adding another year of experience and continuity to a young team can do nothing but help. Cormack is very excited to start the season and to watch his team grow and compete.

Their first scrimmage of the season will be on Saturday.

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

PEORIA, Ill. — The University of Iowa men’s and women’s cross country teams wrapped up postseason competition on Friday at the NCAA Midwest Regional. The men placed 13th with a score of 389 points, while the women finished in 17th place with 478 points.

In the men’s 10,000-meter race, junior Will Ryan (30:42.6), sophomore Miles Wilson (30:45.7), and junior Brayden Burnett (31:11.8) all recorded new personal bests. Senior Miriam Sandeen set a personal best with a time of 20:55.5 in the women’s 6,000-meter race.

The woman began the morning, led by Sandeen, who placed 51st. She was followed by freshman Elena Torres in 71st (21:12.6), senior Amber Aesoph in 108th (21:35.1), freshman Hillary Trainor in 117th (21:45.7) and junior Jalyssa Blazek in 134th (22:02.1).

Ryan led the men, finishing 58th, while Wilson landed in 61st. They were followed by freshmen Kyle Montgomery (31:07.3) and Ethan Eichhorn (31:09.6), who placed 88th and 93rd, respectively. Burnett rounded out the top five runners in 97th place.

HEAR FROM COACH HASENBANK
“Will Ryan and Miriam Sandeen competed the best they have all season. Miriam got started in a much better position and competed well the entire race. Will was the right kind of patient today, leading to a very good result. Miles Wilson put the wraps on an excellent sophomore campaign very consistent in every race.

The freshmen were fantastic. For Kyle (Montgomery) and Ethan (Eichhorn) to make their 10K debuts on a stage like this is really impressive. Those two were in lockstep the entire race and ultra-competitive on the course today. Elena (Torres) and Hillary (Trainor) were equally impressive. What they brought to the team this fall was consistency at a high level and a lot of confidence for a couple of very talented young women. Very proud of these four freshmen.”

HAWKEYE RESULTS
Men’s 10,000 meters
58. Will Ryan-30:42.6, PR
61. Miles Wilson- 30:45.7, PR
88. Kyle Montgomery- 31:07.3
93. Ethan Eichhorn- 31:09.6
97. Brayden Burnett- 31:11.8, PR
134. Hayden Kuhn- 31:56.8
160. Carson Houg- 32:31.9

Women’s 6,000 meters
51. Miriam Sandeen- 20:55.5, PR
71. Elena Torres- 21:12.6
108. Amber Aesoph- 21:35.1
117. Hillary Trainor- 21:45.7
134. Jalyssa Blazek- 22:02.1
135. Abby Ryon- 22:07.0, PR
182. Aleah Tenpas- 22:50.8