No. 16 Cyclone Women Take Third at Nuttycombe Invitational

AMES, Iowa – The No. 16 Iowa State women's cross country team continued to impress on the national stage, placing third among 17 other ranked teams and 32 programs total at the 2025 Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.

"Our women ran exception well today against a field that is equivalent to what we will see next month at the national meet," said coach Cale Wallace. "Running in a field like this is something that is hard to do when you don't have a ton of experience, but our group handled it really well. Everybody that ran today in both the Championship race and B race has something positive to take away from their race, and I can't wait to see what we do in the postseason."

ISU place four runners in the top 30 to propel itself to a top three team finish at the event, its best finish since 2014.

"What a day for the women," said director of cross country Jeremy Sudbury. "Obviously, super proud of Coach Wallace and what he's been able to put together in just a year of being in charge of the women's program. Today's a big day, and I think shows where the future of our women's programs heading."

The Cyclones were paced by Mercyline Kirwa once again, earning her second top five individual finish in as many meets she has run for ISU. Kirwa finished the 6K in 19:44.8, just four seconds behind the fourth-place finisher from Notre Dame. Joining Kirwa in the top 15 were senior Maelle Porcher and redshirt-freshman Betty Kipkore, both nearly running under 20 minutes for 13^th and 14^th place, respectively. In her Iowa State debut, Mercy Kibet gutted out a top 30 finish in 20:26.9 to help the Cyclone cause.

Ruby Hughes was ISU's fifth scorer, finishing 115^th in 21:15.6 while Sydney Morrell (128^th), Riley Beach (141^st) and Maya Ledesma (171^st) rounded out the eight-woman Cyclone squad.

"I can't speak highly enough and how smart you know Maelle Porcher ran and obviously Mercyline and Betty being able to be low sticks for us," said Sudbury. "Honestly one of the heroes of the day might have been Mercy Kibet in regards to just how tough she ran her first collegiate race ever. She's been a person that we've had high hopes for but just hasn't been able to get 100% healthy and to the starting line until today. So to see that result, and even in the back Ruby Hughes and Sydney Morrell coming through and making sure that the scoring got done to finish third is just a great overall team performance. So really excited and I can't wait to see what they do in Big 12s and obviously getting ready for NCAAs."

Up Next

Iowa State travels to Lawrence to compete for the Big 12 title at Rim Rock Farm. The women's 6K race will begin at 11 a.m. following the men's 8K race, slated to begin at 10 a.m.

Team Results (Championship)

1. No. 2 NC State, 41; 2. No. 7 Notre Dame, 125; 3. No. 16 Iowa State, 176; 4. No. 9 West Virginia, 190; 5. No. 18 Northwestern, 225; 6. No. 22 Georgetown, 243; 7. No. 14 Penn State, 247; 8. No. 11 Stanford, 250; 9. No. 5 New Mexico, 312; 10. No. 14 Utah, 316; 11. No. 29 Wisconsin, 345; 12. No. 10 Colorado, 355; 13. No. 18 Washington, 364; 14. No. 27 Washington State, 365; 15. No. 24 Michigan State, 365; 16. No. 20 Gonzaga, 391; 17. Duke, 413; 18. No. 6 NAU, 418; 19. North Carolina 419; 20. CBU, 439; 21. Toledo, 495; 22. Louisville, 559; 23. Syracuse, 564; 24. Minnesota, 585; 25. Michigan, 607; 26. Furman, 642; 27. Harvard, 689; 28. No. 28 Providence 696; 29. Lipscomb, 719; 30. Indiana, 854

Individual Results (Championship)

1. Grace Hartman, NC State, 19:30.1; 5. Mercyline Kirwa, Iowa State, 19:44.8; 13. Maelle Porcher, Iowa State, 20:04.4; 14. Betty Kipkore, Iowa State, 20:05.0; 29. Mercy Kibet, Iowa State, 20:26.9; 115. Ruby Hughes, Iowa State, 21:15.6; 128. Sydney Morrell, Iowa State, 21:23.3; 141. Riley Beach, Iowa State, 21:32.1; 171. Maya Ledesma, Iowa State, 21:55.2

Individual Results (B Race)

1. Ali Weimer, Unattached, 20:21.1; 24. Becca Heitzig, Iowa State, 21:53.4; 57. Ashlyn Keeney, Iowa State, 22:35.5; 61. Mya Trober, Iowa State, 22:43.5; 65. Josie Baker, Iowa State, 22:47.8

No. 16 Cyclone Women Take Third at Nuttycombe Invitational

Players Mentioned

Josie Baker

Riley Beach

Becca Heitzig

Ruby Hughes

Ashlyn Keeney

Mercy Kibet

Betty Kipkore

Mercyline Kirwa

Maya Ledesma

Sydney Morrell

Maelle Porcher

Mya Trober

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics

No. 16 Cyclone Women Take Third at Nuttycombe Invitational

Related News

Players Mentioned

Josie Baker

Riley Beach

Becca Heitzig

Ruby Hughes

Ashlyn Keeney

Mercy Kibet

Betty Kipkore

Mercyline Kirwa

Maya Ledesma

Sydney Morrell

Maelle Porcher

Mya Trober

Related Videos

Sponsors