After enjoying the warm weather of California and Texas the previous weekend, the Cyclone track and field teams found themselves in the surprisingly warm climate of Iowa this week. They will continue to acclimate themselves to a fresh season of outdoor track and field before competing in this weekend’s Jim Click Combined Events competition in Tucson, Ariz.

Coach Corey Ihmels is using the first part of the outdoor season as a transition period for his squads. The Cyclones never had a true track meet away from home during the indoor season, but that has already been different so far this season with trips to California and Texas to compete in the Bobby Lane and UT Arlington Invitationals. Another aspect of the season lies within the preparation for meets outside, rather than in the friendly confines of Lied Recreation Athletic Center.

“It’s interesting in the way that we seemed to spend a lot of time in that rec center during the indoor season, and it’s good to not be cooped up in there anymore,” Ihmels said. “We hit indoors really hard and now everybody is back to the drawing board. We’re excited for outdoors and now we’re going to move forward.”

The Cyclones are coming off a strong year as they posted their best finishes at the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships since 2000 — the women’s team finished sixth, while the men finished seventh. Iowa State was then represented by its only NCAA qualifier, Lisa Koll, in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, where Koll earned a 10th-place finish for the ISU women, their first top 10 finish nationally.

Koll’s victory in the 5,000 meters at the indoor championships, in addition to a second place finish in the 3,000-meter run, were part of a reoccurring pattern for Koll, now a nine-time All-American.

Koll kicked off the outdoor season last weekend at the Stanford Invitational where she added another accolade to her resume. Koll’s time of 31 minutes, 18.07 seconds broke the collegiate record in the 10,000-meter run and became the sixth-fastest American of all time in the event. Her record breaking performance in the 10,000 caught the eye of the rest of the Big 12 Conference, as she was named the Big 12 Track and Field Female Athlete of the Week for her efforts.

On the men’s side, the Cyclones will have junior Hillary Bor on the squad as the top returning performer in the steeplechase, an event where athletes compete over obstacles and through water in addition to running on the track.

The outdoor season brings several new events to competition, including the 4×100 meter relay and the javelin. The men’s 4×100 team of junior Amara Sama, sophomores Clint Martin and Bryce Colston, and freshman Patrick Lewis posted a fourth-place finish in its first time competing as a group last weekend at the UT Arlington Invitational in Arlington, Texas.

Daniel Newhouse also competed in Texas for the Cyclones in the javelin event. The sophomore from Aurora, Ill., finished in eighth place in the Big 12 Outdoor Championships last year and had a solid start last weekend, posting a third-place finish at the UT Arlington Invitational. The closest the Cyclones will come to Ames for a competition will be the Jim Duncan Invitational and the Drake Relays that are hosted in Des Moines.

The Cyclones will spend the next few weekends in the Arizona sun at the Jim Click Combined Events meet in Tucson, Ariz., this weekend before competing at the Sun Angel Track Classic in Tempe, Ariz., on April 9 and 10.