In the days leading up to each ISU track and field meet, track and field coach Corey Ihmels makes sure to jot down a prediction for what senior distance runner Lisa Koll will run when she steps onto the track. With each race that Koll has run this season, that task has become just about as easy as picking a perfect bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament.

That’s because with each goal Ihmels predicts, Koll always seems to surprise her coach and surpass his prediction.

Like her coach, before the beginning of the 2010 outdoor track and field season, Koll comprised two lists of goals of what she wanted to accomplish in her final outdoor season as a Cyclone.

One list entailed goals that she would “be happy with,” which included running each of her 10,000-meter races under 31:45.00. The other list had goals that she would “be ecstatic with,” with a primary goal of running under 31:25.45 — which would break the collegiate record held by Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego.

Fortunately for Koll, when she crossed the finish line at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., she reached her goal of breaking the collegiate record and, unfortunately for Ihmels, she once again beat his prediction of 31:24.00.

In the first meet of the outdoor season, Koll blazed out to an early lead and proceeded to set a new collegiate record in a time of 31:18.07.

“I’m still kind of shell-shocked,” Koll said at practice Monday. “I know I’m going to come back here and kind of just do what I’ve always been doing, but it’s hard to fathom what it really means in the long run.”

Koll was no stranger to record-breaking performances when she toed the starting line at Stanford on Friday night. Koll set the American collegiate record on the same track in 2008 when she ran the race in 32:11.18. That season she also went onto win the 10,000-meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

“The conditions were great, and I thought two years ago was pretty special, but it was pretty amazing what she was able to do,” Ihmels said. “It was a little different than two years ago, even though I knew she was prepared to run what she ran two years ago. I think this year I’ve just come to expect the unexpected.”

The time also places Koll in an elite group of American female distance runners, as her time is the sixth-fastest American time ever recorded on an outdoor track. Koll trails five former Olympians on the list. The fifth- and fourth-fastest times recorded by Amy Yoder and Jen Rhines are only five seconds quicker than Koll’s time.

With her continuously quicker times, Koll’s name may be higher on that list in the future.

“She has a huge future ahead of her, and the crazy part to think about is she ran 53 seconds faster than she did when she broke the American collegiate record [in 2008]. So, where is that point that that’s the fastest she’ll ever go?” assistant coach Travis Hartke said.

Koll has had plenty of defining moments throughout her tenure as an ISU runner in both track and field and cross-country. However, the seven-time Big 12 champion, nine-time All-American and two-time NCAA national champion felt her greatest success came late Friday night at the season-opening meet in Palo Alto.

“I definitely think so far this is the most impressed I have been with myself in running,” Koll said. “I’m surprised that it happened so early and that maybe I have to even think about I want to do now in June and reconsider where my focus is.”

Koll is excited about the record, but she won’t be satisfied unless she can continue her level of success for the remainder of the season.

“I think sometimes runners define themselves by their [personal records] and I don’t want to define myself by my one PR,” Koll said. “I want to be consistent, I want to keep running this well.”

For Koll to break the record in the first meet of the outdoor season could be looked at as both a good thing and a bad thing. The record is an incredible feat, but now Koll and her coaches must decide how long she will wait to compete once again.

Koll and Ihmels have yet to sit down and determine that date, but Koll hopes that in her training she will be able to remain consistent regardless of her return date.

“The only thing that would be bad is if I don’t continue to improve, so I guess that’s one of my goals as I move forward from here — to not let this be the defining moment of my outdoor career,” Koll said.

Another decision that Koll and Ihmels will contemplate is whether or not Koll will try and improve her personal record in the 5,000-meter run — an event at which she was crowned the NCAA Indoor Champion less than three weeks ago.

“You hate to get greedy, so I think we have to be careful,” Ihmels said. “The 5k is intriguing and you hate to not give her an opportunity to do something that’s going to be set in stone for a while, but at the end of the day we have to look at her future goals and what she wants to do in the future.”

When she does return to the track, which Koll hopes could be as soon as the Drake Relays on April 23, she will be searching for another new benchmark to reach, whether it be in the 5,000 or the 10,000.

“I don’t really know what I’m capable of or what a good benchmark is; I like to find those benchmarks and kind of gear toward that,” Koll said.

Until that time, Ihmels and Koll will surely spend some time enjoying the record before getting back into the rigorous training schedule that has helped Koll become an elite athlete.

“When you deal with it everyday and it’s the day-in-and-day-out grind, you kind of have blinders on,” Ihmels said. “But when you really sit back and think about it that nobody has ever run faster collegiately, that’s a pretty bold statement.”

Before the next time Koll steps on the track again this outdoor season, Ihmels will have to head back to the drawing board for his next prediction. After Koll’s record-setting accomplishment, the third-year coach may opt toward retirement rather than another prediction.

“[Koll breaking the record] makes me want to retire because, I mean, is it going to get any better than this?” Ihmels said jokingly. “She might be a once-in-a-lifetime athlete that I’m able to coach.”

Also competing for the Cyclones in Palo Alto were a host of other distance runners, led by junior Elphas Sang who finished seventh in the men’s 1,500-meter run and sophomore Meaghan Nelson who, in her first 3,000-meter steeplechase as a Cyclone, set the school record with a time of 10:52.45.

“Out in Palo Alto we had a really good weekend,” Ihmels said. “I mean, obviously, Lisa’s accomplishments kind of overshadowed everything else, but we just had some really positive things happen, and I think we are going to continue to make progress.”

ISU sprinters, throwers and jumpers competed at the Bobby Lane Invitational in Arlington, Texas. Sophomore Kianna Elahi was one of three victors for the Cyclones in Arlington as she won the 400-meter hurdles in 59.89 seconds..

Iowa State will be back in competition in two weeks with the Sun Angel Track Classic in Tempe, Ariz.