The No. 13 ISU women’s track team is “feeling good” after having a full week to recover and prepare for the Big 12 Indoor Championships this weekend.

Athletes will travel to College Station, Texas, with visions of claiming a conference title for indoor track. Coaches said the week off will prove to be advantageous when runners hit the track Friday and Saturday.

“Sometimes you get so engrossed, week after week, it gives you a week to train and recover,” said assistant coach Travis Hartke.

Athletes expressed that having the week and mainly the weekend off before the indoor championships has done nothing but help the team remain focused and excited.

“We’ve just been trying to have a very good recovery,” said distance runner Betsy Saina. “The most important thing out there is to have a hard race.”

Saina qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships on Feb. 10 in the 5k run and will be the leading runner for the ISU team going into the conference championship.

During the past week, distance runner Dani Stack has been fighting a small band of obstacles injury-wise. However, she said this will not have an effect on her performance come race time Saturday.

“[The off-week] has been really good for me,” Stack said. “I’ve been struggling with little minor injuries and sickness, so it was good for me to have a down week and not really focus on racing.”

Stack, along with teammates Saina and Meaghan Nelson, will compete in the 3k and 5k events Saturday.

With the weekend in their crosshairs, the excitement sets in for the athletes. Runners said they feel confident in how they will perform and are just ready to go after a solid recovery week.

“The goal of this week was just to be ready to go this weekend,” Saina said. “I think I would be ready to go right now.”