The week of May 10-16 saw Ames area track and field programs participate in state qualifying meets.
Ames ran in the 4A meet at Indianola, and Ballard and Gilbert competed at the 3A meet in Alleman. Nevada went to the 3A meet at Clear Lake, Roland-Story hosted a 2A qualifying meet in Story City, and Collins-Maxwell and Colo-NESCO went to the 1A meet in Colfax.
Several male athletes from the Ames area punched a ticket to state. It was also a busy week of high school boys golf, soccer and tennis.
Here are the Ames Tribune male Athlete of the Week nominees for the week of May 10-16. AmesTrib.com readers vote to determine the winner, who will be announced at the end of the week.
Drew Vander Wilt, Ames
Vander Wilt qualified for the 2026 Iowa high school girls and boys state track and field championships in four events following the 4A qualifying meet in Indianola on May 14.
Vander Wilt qualified individually in the open 200 and 400-meter races, and he is also part of the Ames boys sprint medley and 4×400 relay teams that qualified. Vander Wilt placed third in the 200 and second in the 400 at Indianola with respective times of 22.55 and 49.07, and the Little Cyclone sprint medley and 4×400 teams both came in second after clocking in at 1:33.18 and 3:23.51, respectively.
Logan Bleich, Gilbert
Bleich is heading to state in four events for the Gilbert boys.
The talented distance runner ran the fastest qualifying 1,600-meter run time in 3A during the 3A qualifying meet at Alleman when he crossed the finish line in 4:20.34. He won the 3,200 at Alleman in 10:01.71 and the 800 in 1:58.81, with those qualifying times ranking 12th and sixth, respectively.
Jace Ortner, Ballard
Ortner is headed to state in the 3A open 400, sprint medley and 4×400.
Ortner won the 400 at the qualifying meet in Alleman with the fifth-best qualifying time in 3A at 49.55. He helped the Bomber sprint medley team place first with the 22nd-best qualifying time at 1:35.60 and the 4×400 win with the eight-best qualifying effort at 3:24.32.
Braden Byersdorfer, Roland-Story
Byersdorfer qualified for the 2026 Iowa high school girls and boys state track and field championships in the boys 100-meter wheelchair.
Byersdorfer qualified during the 2A qualifier meet in Story City on May 14. He finished the race in 43.62 seconds.
Jack Angell, Colo-NESCO
Angell is headed to state in three events for the Colo-NESCO boys track and field team following the 1A qualifying meet in Colfax on May 14.
Angell won the 110 high hurdles in 14.93 and the 400 hurdles in 55.53. Those times rank seventh and fifth, respectively, among 1A qualifiers.
Angell also anchored Colo-NESCO to a qualifying time of 44.99 in the 4×100. The Royals placed second at the qualifying meet in the event.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Vote for Ames Tribune male Athlete of the Week for May 10-16
Reporting by Joe Randleman, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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