The ISU women’s track and field team will split apart again this weekend as the distance squad heads out to the Stanford Invitational and the rest of the team competes in the Sun Angel Invitational.

For the distance women, the meet in Palo Alto, Calif., is the team’s first meet of the outdoor season. Training during practice has led up to this meet.

“We looked great [on Tuesday] in practice and I think everybody is excited about [the trip to Stanford],” said coach Corey Ihmels. “Now we’ve just got to go out there and execute and get done what we’re ready to get done.”

Ihmels said staying back in Ames for the past few weeks has helped the team prepare thoroughly for the meet this weekend.

“We’ve been sitting back here [in Ames] for quite a few weeks getting ready,” Ihmels said. “So I think we’re ready to get out there and have a good performance.”

Junior distance runner Dani Stack is still recovering from an injury that occurred during the indoor season. She will not be competing this weekend.

On the sprints side of the team, athletes made the trip back to Tempe, Ariz., for the second time in three weeks. Sprinter Kianna Elahi will try to reclaim her top position in the 400-meter hurdles, where she was placed just two weeks ago.

Ihmels said he is expecting to see improvement from the other parts of his team this weekend at the Sun Angel Invite.

“I think we had a great opener a few weeks ago out at Arizona [State],” Ihmels said. “So we would like to see progress from that last meet. A little bit of that is going to depend on the heats and competition.”

The Sun Angel Invite will include Big 12 rival schools such as No. 9 Kansas and Oklahoma State. Iowa State is currently ranked No. 27 in the nation.

The throwers will compete at the Sun Angel Invitational this weekend as well.

The meets both commence on Friday afternoon and are completed Saturday evening.