This weekend, the ISU track and field team will be covering three meets in California. With a busy weekend ahead, athletes have been having an eventful week of practice as well.

Coach Corey Ihmels said with the spring semester, things can seem a little more hectic than usual. Even though there is a quick turnaround from indoor track to outdoor track, school can put a little more stress on the athletes.

“As soon as [the athletes] get done with indoors, it’s over and done,” Ihmels said. “With finals coming up on us, everything seems crammed in.”

Ihmels said school affects the athletes’ lives and it is important to responsibly balance the role of the student-athlete.

For the past few weeks, the ISU track-and-field team has been traveling all over the Western portion of the country. With meets in Arizona and California, athletes have had to balance academics with competition.

“It’s a little unsettling as a coach to squeeze those things in because you’re a little worried about how they’re going to react,” Ihmels said. “But I think we’re headed in a good place.”

The sprints squad had a busy yet successful weekend, taking gold in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and the 400-meter dash. Sprints coach Nate Wiens said he was looking forward to upbeat workouts this week.

“Most of our top people didn’t compete and travel this weekend, they just stayed home and trained,” Wiens said. “We’re actually able to get after it a little bit this week.”

With a focused and concentrated state of mind intact, Wiens stressed that rest and recovery still will be in store for the athletes in the weeks of training to come.

“We do good training in between, but there’s also plenty of time for rest,” Wiens said. “[The athletes’] bodies are very finely tuned right now, so you don’t really want to do too much.”

For one athlete in particular, junior Betsy Saina has been “off the grid” as far as competing goes.

Saina decided to redshirt her junior outdoor track season. During her off time, she said she has been staying in shape, as well as catching up and studying her school work.

“Training has been going really well,” Saina said. “So far I like it: no racing, just training.”

It has been more than a month since Saina last competed in — and won — the women’s 5,000-meter run at the NCAA Indoor Championships. In her time away from competition, Saina has managed to stay physically and mentally strong in her training.

“Pretty much what I have been doing is a really fast workout that is just like the race, at the race pace,” Saina said. “It helps me feel like I’m in a race.”

The weekend’s competition starts Thursday with the Mt. SAC Relays, which will continue through Saturday.

On Thursday and Saturday, some Cyclones will compete at the Beach Invite in Norwalk, Calif. For the final meet of the weekend, on Friday, some athletes will see competition at the Brian Clay Invite in Azusa, Calif.