The ISU men’s and women’s track and field teams will begin their indoor season Friday with their only meet of December. With this being the only meet until the Big 4 Duals on Jan. 18, the teams are going in with a relaxed attitude.

The early season meet is used as a way to test the athlete’s current fitness levels and see what they will need to improve on in the month before the next meet.

“It’s a rust-buster,” said redshirt senior Samantha Bluske of the first meet of the season. “Really nobody should be too nervous about it.”

Bluske and a number of other athletes recently finished up a successful cross-country season, which will affect the team going into the first indoor track meet.

The women’s cross-country team competed at the NCAA National Championship meet on Nov. 23, exactly two weeks prior to the first indoor track meet.

Due to the short turnaround, many distance runners who participated deep into the cross-country season will either not participate in the opening indoor meet or will compete in events “just for fun.”

“We have to get them enough time to recover, not so much physically but mentally,” said ISU coach Andrea Grove-McDonough, who specifically works with the women’s distance runners and is the women’s cross-country coach.

Even though the meet is more about shaking off the rust than intense competition, the team is still excited about transferring into the indoor track and field season.

“I’m really excited for the new coaching staff and just the turnaround coming off a good cross-country year,” said junior distance runner Alex Dillenbeck.

The coaching staff will be headed up by Martin Smith, who is in his first year as the director of the track and field and cross-country teams.

Previously, Smith was the coach at Oklahoma, Oregon, Wisconsin, Virginia and George Mason. The coach has compiled an impressive resume after guiding five national championship teams.

A staple of Smith’s former teams has been strong performers in distance events. With the addition of Andrea Grove-McDonough, who also has a strong track record of successful distance runners in track and cross-country, Iowa State looks to make the distance event a major strength of both the men’s and women’s teams.

“There is a strong emphasis of the distance and mid-distance events for sure,” Grove-McDonough said. “They are going to have to put up some points for us.”

For now, the athletes are looking at staying healthy and using the meet to see where they are at fitness-wise. The indoor season will take off after the conclusion of Winter Break.