Last Friday, the ISU distance women competed in their first outdoor meet of the season. And in that first outdoor meet, Iowa State’s Meaghan Nelson qualified for the Olympic Trials.

Not only was it Iowa State’s first outdoor meet of the season, but it was also Nelson’s first collegiate 10,000-meter run as well. Nelson clocked in at 32:33.40, automatically qualifying for the trials and setting the nation’s fastest 10k time.

Heading into the meet, Nelson had set some goals and expectations for herself.

“I wanted to hit that ‘A-standard’, the 32:45.00 to get to the trials,” Nelson said. “I would have been happy if I would have ran a 33:00.00, too.”

Also having his own expectations of his runners, coach Corey Ihmels drew up how he wanted the weekend to shape out.

“I felt she was ready to run a sub-32:45.00,” Ihmels said. “It was our third-best all-time on our list and our list is pretty good. It was an impressive performance.”

Nelson had to do most of the work by herself in the 10k since she was the only Cyclone in the event. Ihmels said he was not sure if anybody would be willing to go out and set the qualifying pace, so he told Nelson that was up to her.

There is a saying “don’t change what’s working for you” that is prevalent in athletics. Nelson said that’s exactly what she wasn’t going to do, heading into her race Friday.

“An hour out, I go out for my warmup and come back and do some stretching, do some strides,” Nelson said. “I’m kind of boring.”

Although her rituals may seem “boring,” something clicked. The bell lap was the only time Nelson wasn’t leading the race.

The half-hour-long race is known to have its tiring effects on runners — not only physically, but mentally as well. Nelson said it took her coach and some number-crunching to keep her mind on the race.

“It was definitely unexpected to have to take the lead,” Nelson said. “But what helped me stay focused was every lap coach was telling me if I was on pace and people were constantly giving me 400-[meter] splits.”

Teammate Dani Stack said she has been in Nelson’s position where she has had to run a race by herself.

“I still approached it the same way,” Stack said. “But it wasn’t like two of us working together. It was different in the aspect of the coach is just more focused on just you, rather than the whole team.”

Nelson’s qualifying time came early in the outdoor season. Now that she has already sealed her fate for the Olympic Trials and June, the spotlight is now on the other two favored distance runners Stack and Betsy Saina.

“To be completely honest, yeah, it does [put pressure on us],” Stack said. “I haven’t seen the same results as her lately, so it’s been hard for me to watch all of the success lately.”

Stack is coming off an indoor season ailment that put her behind for most of the season. Stack said she will be competing in a couple of weeks in her first outdoor meet and will be shooting for the Olympic Trials’ qualifying time as well.

With qualifying so early in the outdoor season has placed Nelson in a healthy position for the rest of the season. Not sure exactly how she will go about the rest of the season, Nelson said she is just testing what is out there and achieving some personal goals.

“I haven’t talked about it with coach specifically yet,” Nelson said. “With regionals and nationals, the goal is [to become an] All-American in the 10k, if all goes well. And the trials, just go there and see what you can do with a really, really fast race.”

In two weeks, the distance squad will be back out at it again, attempting to qualify at the Payton Jordan Invitational as well as the Mt. SAC relays.