Iowa State standout Audi Crooks had a stellar sophomore season and led the Cyclones to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament and the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The dominant center also announced her return to Iowa State after speculation linking her with an entry into the transfer portal.

During the offseason, Crooks has been sharing snippets on Instagram of herself back at training. On Thursday, she changed tack and reposted on her Instagram stories a heartwarming post by weightlifter Mary Theisen-Lappen showing her lifting weights at a competition.

Audi Crooks captioned the post:

“This is so cute @marytheisenlappen.”

Watch Theisen-Lappen’s video below:

Theisen-Lappen was a track and field star for the Winona State Warriors and Indiana Hoosiers before switching to weightlifting. She won gold in the +81 kg event at the 2023 Pan American Games and silver in the +87 kg event at the 2023 World Weightlifting Championship. She also competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics, finishing fifth in the +81 kg weight category.

When Audi Crooks revealed why she returned to Iowa State

Audi Crooks has been one of the most-talked-about players in her two seasons of college basketball, and last year, she led the Big 12 in scoring and averaged 23.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists.

After the Cyclones were dumped out of the NCAA Tournament, speculation abounded about Crooks’ future and whether she would enter the busy women’s college basketball transfer portal to get more money elsewhere.

During a June segment of the “We Will Collective” podcast, the Cyclones star revealed why she chose to remain at Iowa State.

“Lots and lots and lots of questions and speculation,” Crooks said. “I’m hearing offers on Facebook that I didn’t even know I had. Somebody said something about $35 million. ‘Whoa, I didn’t know that was a thing.’ Obviously just a lot of honest conversations, a lot of discussions. But it really wasn’t that hard of a choice.

“Knowing the Iowa State fan base had been so loyal, so good to me and my family and welcoming me from the jump. Money is life-changing, of course, but these experiences are as well. So it was just in terms of what mattered to me more and that was an easy decision. Like I said, the grass is greener where you water it, and I think that’s something that is kind of a lost art, a lost phrase.”

Alongside Audi Crooks, the Iowa State Cyclones will return most of last year’s team, with Addy Brown, Kenzie Hare, Sydney Harris, Arianna Jackson, Alisa Williams, Reagan Wilson, Lilly Taulelei and Aili Tanke all coming back. Coach Bill Fennelly also added guard Jada Williams and forward Evangelia Paulk via the transfer portal.