Cyclones have success at Husker Invitational

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Photo: Rebekka Brown/Iowa State Daily

Kersten Thorgaard rests after finishing the 800-meter run on Saturday during the Bill Bergan Invitational meet at Lied Rec Center. Thorgaard finished with a time of 2:11.36.

Sally Donlin

The ISU men’s and women’s track and field team performed well at the Husker Invitational Saturday at the Devaney Sports Center.

Coach Corey Ihmels was satisfied with how the team did as a whole.

“We had some good things happen,” said Ihmels “For the most part everybody was competitive in their events.”

Multi-sport freshman Hannah Willms executed the high jump at the meet coming in fourth place (5-08.75).

“It was good to see Hannah have a good jump over there and do a great job,” Ihmels said.

Laishema Hampton also performed well in the field events Friday for Iowa State in the women’s weight throws as she recorded third place finish throwing 62-feet-6.5-inches.

The men’s relay team of Ian Warner, Elphas Sang, Clint Martin and Alvin Garnett placed second with the time of 3:14.42 only .04 seconds behind Big 12 rival Colorado’s relay team in Lincoln, Neb.

Ihmels described that the 4×400 team’s effort as “really good,” in the early season.

In addition to running with the men’s relay team, Warner made it to the finals in the 60-meter dash where he places second with the time of 6.79.

Kersten Thorgaard ran the mile with the time of 5:08.54 scoring a new personal best by almost six seconds. She won her heat, placing fifth overall in the middle-distance race.

“She ran by herself the whole race,” said assistant coach Kristy Popp. “I think she is going to have a better experience running in a more competitive race which she’s going to get in the 800 this week for sure.”

Cyclone sprinters Elahi Kianna and Elphas Sang both ran solid races last weekend in Lincoln. Kianna placed second in the women’s 600-yard run with the time of 1:21.39. Sang also got second place for the men’s 1,000-meter run.

“We got a lot accomplished in terms of experience in getting kids on the 200-meter bank track and just some different kind of competition then we’ve seen so far this year,” Popp said.

The ISU men’s and women’s track team is back at the Lied Recreation Center this week preparing for the Iowa State Classic, Thursday through Saturday.