Women’s track team ‘restarts and reboots’ for outdoor season
Kianna Elahi anchors the women’s 4×4 meter relay during the Bill Bergan Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 28, at Lied Recreation. Iowa State’s “A” team won the finals, scoring 6 points.
March 21, 2012
Let the season begin … again. The women’s track and field team has been preparing for the past two weeks for the start of the outdoor track season.
For some athletes, they have already competed in a full indoor track season with conference and a national meet. For others, the start of the outdoor track season is the first time they see competition.
Regardless of the runner’s situation, coaches said it is time to restart and reboot for that coming competition.
“It’s like your DVR is all messed up, and you’ve got to reset it,” said ISU coach Corey Ihmels. “You’ve got to reset things and make sure you’re back to square one.”
Coaches said one group that has been transitioning well towards the outdoor season has been the sprinters. Sprints coach Nate Wiens said workouts have remained consistent and effort is always there.
“With Kianna and Donnise and Krista now coming into her own, we wanted to have three to four strong in that group and that’s what we always want to have,” Wiens said. “It’s turning out to be a really good combination with those four women, and they’re training really well.”
One sprinter that had a successful indoor season was senior Kianna Elahi. Elahi ran the 600-yard dash and served as the anchor for the women’s 4×400-meter run.
Elahi said she’s excited for her last outdoor track season as a Cyclone and that she is giving it everything she has.
“It was a bit of a reality check after indoors got over and that it really sunk in that this is my last year and last season,” Elahi said. “But it has helped me a lot to really focus and treat every practice like it’s nationals.”
Like Elahi, a majority of the sprinters are going to the ASU Invitational this weekend in Tempe, Ariz., Coaches said it will be nice to see what some of the women can do in the first outdoor meet of the season.
“Our sprint squad isn’t huge, and we like it that way,” Wiens said. “We keep it medium to small, and we want our talent level to be high.”
With the ASU Invitational right around the corner, the coaches and athletes said they have been anxious to get outdoors all indoor season. Now that it’s here, Ihmels said they are ready to go.
“It’s a different dynamic when you go outside,” Ihmels said. “Everything indoors is so controlled, and you just have so many more things to do [outdoors.]”
