Fans at this weekend’s Cyclone Open were able to catch a glimpse of the future as many of the team’s veterans and top competitors sat out of the meet following a full week of training. With the familiar faces in street clothes, a large contingency of underclassmen got their opportunity in the inaugural Cyclone Open.

“We’re pretty young but we got some kids making some movement in different areas and it’s exciting to see,”  said coach Corey Ihmels.

The biggest group of absentees from the meet were the ISU distance runners, including All-Americans Hillary Bor and Guor Marial, who did not compete this weekend. However, the depth of the distance squad showed as redshirt freshman Garrett Eklof won the mens’ non-seeded 3,000 meter run in 8:50:12 and junior Ben Murphy-Baum ran second in the seeded 3,000 meter run in a time of 8:34.28.

“We’re at the bottom of the totem pole on the [distance] team,” Eklof said. “Our team’s good but if we keep moving the bottom up its going to make our team better.”

Thirteen of the 19 ISU freshman on the mens’ side were in action this weekend, highlighted by the performance in the 600 yard run. Freshman Greg Kufahl finished in second in front of fellow freshmen Casey Negrete and Brian Sandvig who finished third and fifth.

“The fact that all of us were right there is really exciting and now we can build on this and get even better,” said Kufahl.

In his first race as a Cyclone, junior college transfer Alvin Garnett beat out former Mississippi State runner and SEC Champion Jamil Hubbard in the 400 meters with a photo finish in the mens’ 400 meter dash. Garnett got to the line just before Hubbard as the race came down to a few thousandths of a second as both men ran times of 48.45 seconds.

“I was just so happy,” Garnett said. “My coach told me to go out and just run, that’s what I did and I won.”

Garnett committed to the Cyclones in October after coming on a visit during homecoming week. Although he is new to the program, assistant coach Nate Wiens is excited about the talent he has seen already from Garnett.

“He fits the mold, attitude-wise and who he wants to be as a young man fits into our team atmosphere and what we want to do,” Wiens said of Garnett.

The mens’ throwers did their best to match the womens’ first through fifth finish in the weight throw as they finished second, third and fourth in the mens’ weight throw, led by junior Josh Koglin’s throw of 58-01.25. Another impressive freshman performance came from Daniel Swarbrick in the shot put with 49-11.75 throw which was good enough for third place.

In the pole vault, sophomore pole vaulter Eric Forbes improved his personal record by six inches by clearing 15-07.00 on his way to a victory in the mens’ pole vault. The victory was the first of Forbes collegiate career and gives him a boost of confidence as he prepares for the Big 12 Indoor Championships in three weeks.

“We’re both [womens’ pole vaulter Caitlin Weber and Forbes] really excited to jump at Big 12’s after qualifying this weekend,” Forbes said.

The Cyclones will get their final tune-up before the Big 12 Indoor Championships when they will host the annual ISU Classic next weekend. The meet will begin on Thursday, Jan. 11 at the Lied Recreation Center.