One of the most intriguing events in track and field is the steeplechase. While all events have their challenges, the steeplechase brings completely different challenges than other events.

In addition to the difficulties of running any distance race, the steeplechase also throws in barriers that the athlete must clear. Even furthermore is the water jump, in which after an athlete clears a barrier, they have to trudge through a water pit.

Last weekend at the Drake Relays, Iowa State’s Colleen Riley set a new school record in the event, with a 3,000-meter steeplechase time of 10:33.32.

“I like it cause it’s different,” Riley said of the event. “The barriers break up the monotony of just racing. There is always something to be focused on as opposed to just running.”

Riley has always ran distance events, but ended up running the steeplechase event in a strange way. Last season, Riley competed in the event once, “just for kicks and giggles.”

Riley ran the event again at the conference meet last season, with promising results. After running the race a few times last season, this year’s coaching staff looked to Riley to run the event again this season.

“This year’s staff was looking for someone to score points at the conference meet, so I just kind of got thrown into it,” Riley said.

So far, Riley has proven to be a good fit for the job. The redshirt freshman now owns the school record in the event after last week’s performance, where she broke the old record, held by former ISU standout Meaghan Nelson, by nearly six full seconds.

ISU assistant coach Will Palmer has a little experience in the steeplechase event from his college days at Williams College. While he said he doesn’t play a part in coaching Riley in the event, he understands the difficulty of the event, especially in training.

“Training for the steeple is pretty different,” Palmer said. “You bring in the hurdling aspect. A lot of steeplers are good in the other flat events, but they really specialize in something technical to kind of give them that added advantage. It’s not all just fitness, a lot of it is technique.”

Riley has ran other distance events over the course of her career, but is now focusing on the steeplechase and scoring team points in the event at the Big 12 championship meet.

“I wouldn’t say I have a preference, because I enjoy the 1500 a lot, but I really enjoy the steeplechase as well,” Riley said. “They’re just so different that it’s hard to say that I like one over the other, but right now I’m focusing on the steeplechase.”

The barriers and water pit add a new aspect that athletes have to deal with. It takes a different type of athlete to run the steeplechase event compared to the typical track events and Riley has proven to be that type of athlete for Iowa State.

“Steeplers have to have a little craziness about them or kind of a little bit of a fearlessness factor to them,” Palmer said.