For the ISU track teams, it’s that time of year again.

After an off-season full of workouts, the runners, throwers and jumpers are primed to compete in the Holiday Preview tomorrow at the Lied Recreation Athletic Center.

The meet will help kick off the indoor track season for the Cyclones, and will mark the first of five total home meets. For ISU track and field coach Corey Ihmels, the meet helps act as a measuring stick.

“This first meet is just a great opportunity for all of the runners — minus the distance runners who are coming off cross country season — to really have a chance to see where they’re at in training,” Ihmels said. “It’s exciting for me as a head coach to kind of see where all of those groups are at with the throwers and the sprinters.”

Less than one month removed from cross country season, the Cyclones will be represented by very few distance runners at the annual meet as they continue to take some time off, but the rest of the team, comprised of many newcomers, will be ready to go.

“We’ll have a few kids who will compete for Iowa State for the first time, and that’s going to be a different feel for them,” Ihmels said. “We’ve got a lot of young talent on this team in a lot of different areas, and Friday will be the first step in the next phase of their careers. It’s important for this to go well for all of the groups, but it won’t define our season by any stretch of the imagination.”

For both the men’s and women’s track teams this season, young athletes will be in abundance with a combined total of just 21 seniors — most of whom are distance runners — on the rosters. A total of 72 athletes on the Cyclones’ roster are classified as either freshmen or sophomores, and Friday’s meet will act as an early opportunity for both them and some upperclassmen to get started.

“It’s going to be exciting to see the young people get a chance and have an opportunity and then the older ones just to start off another season on a good note,” Ihmels said.

The meet acts as one of the earliest in the area. This season a total of 14 teams, including the Cyclones, will be taking part in the action. Assistant coach Travis Hartke, who coordinates the indoor meets, said the Holiday Preview offers a good chance for schools to get a jumpstart to their season if they so choose.

“The meet itself is just a really good opportunity for a lot of teams that have been training through the fall with their track athletes who haven’t had an opportunity to compete,” Hartke said. “Most of our kids have been training since September and it’s kind of a marking point.”

The Cyclones will have five weeks to regroup before hitting the track again after break.

“It’s a chance to shake the cobwebs off and just kind of get back into that competition setting,” Ihmels concluded. “It’s not the World Championships, it’s not the World Series, it’s just a fun little meet for us to get our feet wet and get ready to roll for the rest of the year.”

The Holiday Preview will be held Friday at the Lied Recreation Center in Ames. Field events will begin at 2 p.m. and running events will get started at 4 p.m. with the women’s 60-meter hurdle preliminary races.