After months of dedication and hard work, the Ames High Cross Country team made it to their final meet of the season on Saturday, October 29th. Soon after placing in the top 20 at Districts the week before, the team advanced on to State. The varsity team consisting of Katie Fukushima, Katelyn Moore, Ryan Weiss, Camille Jackson, Madeline Taylor, Eva Hill, and Emma Cardenas ran their hardest and placed 12th out of the 15 teams. With their determination and Coach Schmaltz’s support, they were able to beat their goal of ranking 14th.

Senior Katie Fukushima who has devoted years to cross country said, “The season went really well. It was fun and it doesn’t seem real that it’s my last season and it’s weird that it’s over.” When asked how she felt after State was over, she replied “It was the goal all season to get to state. We ranked 12th which is better than our goal so we’re happy with that and I’m also happy with the team. Even though a lot of them are young, it was a good experience for us to go to state and hopefully they will be there next year as well.”

Coach Schmaltz is known on the team for his extreme dedication to the sport and helped the varsity team push themselves to get them to State. “He is very passionate about the sport and you can tell he definitely cares about the runners and their improvement,” said Katie, which is evident through the amazing results the Cross Country team achieved at Fort Dodge.