The ISU men’s and women’s track and field teams will be traveling nearly 1,500 miles by plane this weekend to California, but the plane trip is only the beginning of what should be a weekend filled with travel.

Athletes and coaches will head back and forth along a 25 mile stretch of the state as they compete in three separate meets in the Sunshine State.

“We’re trying to get the best bang for our buck by going someplace where we can get a lot of different opportunities,” said ISU coach Corey Ihmels. “It’s just kind of a crazy weekend but the hassle and the chaos will be worth it having a chance to get some good events in.”

The Cyclones are coming off a performance at the Sun Angel Track Classic in Tempe, Ariz., that Ihmels thought lacked a bit of effort due to unexpected rainy weather conditions throughout the meet.

“I was a little disappointed with our effort last weekend. I didn’t feel like we were competitive as we could have been,” Ihmels said. “I think what happens is you get to Arizona and you expect perfect weather and perfect conditions then you don’t get it and there’s a just a little bit of an edge off.”

The Cyclones hope to bounce back this weekend. They’ll get started at the largest meet of the three, the 53rd annual Mount Sac Relays, which are Thursday through Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College. Many of the distance runners on both the men’s and women’s side have not competed since the Stanford Invitational on March 25 and 26, but will return to the track this weekend.

“The track [at the Mount Sac Relays] really caters to the 5K, 10K, 1,500 meters and steeplechase, so we’ll have a lot of kids running at that event,” Ihmels said.

Also invited to the Mount Sac Relays were junior sprinter/hurdler Kianna Elahi and the men’s and women’s 4×100-meter relay teams.

The Brian Clay Invitational on Friday and Beach Invitational on Saturday are “overflow” meets for athletes that were not invited to attend the Mount Sac Relays. A group of ISU runners will also be competing at the Jim Duncan Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Des Moines.

The coaching staff spent more than an hour Wednesday determining the best strategy to get the 60 athletes competing along with the coaches to each of the three meets. The group of athletes was split in half with a group that left Wednesday morning that is set to return Saturday, and a second group that flew out Thursday morning and will come back Sunday. Six 15-passenger vans will be the means of transportation for the team once they touch down in California.

“Logistically it’s going to be a little bit of a nightmare but it’s not insurmountable,” Ihmels said. “We just have to roll with the punches, hopefully get some great weather and then have some great performances by the end of the weekend.”