Iowa State’s track and field throwers continued their early season successes into the inaugural Cyclone Open Friday and Saturday at the Harry Hoak Track inside Lied Recreational Center.

The Cyclones swept the weight throw, taking first through fifth, with sophomore Laishema Hampton leading the way with a throw of 57-05.00. Junior Britta Christofferson earned a second place finish in the weight throw, as well as a victory in the women’s shot put Saturday with a throw of 47-07.00.

Danielle Frere, Hayli Bozarth, and Emily Nugent rounded out the top five for the Cyclones. Laishema’s victory is her third championship so far this season, after not being able to make the finals at the first meet of 2010, the ISU Open.

“I think I needed that performance at the ISU Open to push me forward, I want to hit 61’ just to be in a good position for conference,” Hampton said. “The team is in a good place right now, we all push each other and are working to get into the right position for the Big 12 Championship.”

Throws coach Grant Wall thinks his squad is close to where they need to be as the season progresses.

“We all see the big picture,” Wall said. “We’re pretty close to our top performances and we’re right on pace to perform well at the Big 12’s and at the ISU Classic next week.”

A strong performance was turned in by senior sprinter Lashawn Wright, who is coming off shoulder surgery four months ago. Wright finished first in the 60 meter dash, finishing just ahead of fellow senior Jenna Caffrey, with a time of 7.61 in the finals.

Wright’s road to recovery has her well underway to major accomplishments this season.

“If my body is in pain, I just have to come to practice and push myself,” Wright said. “I’ve been out and I want to come and compete strong in my final season, I want to bring home a medal and qualify for nationals in both the indoor and outdoor seasons.”

Sprinters and hurdlers coach Nate Wiens feels that having Wright return to run with fellow sprinter Jenna Caffrey, already a provisional NCAA qualifier in the 60 meter dash adds great strength to his squad.

“Those girls are very talented,” Wiens said. “They always put our squad in great position.”

Myranda Casterline set a new personal record in the preliminaries of the 60 meter hurdles before improving her time again in the finals to get the victory for the Cyclones.

“Myranda comes out and does whatever we say,” Wiens said. “It’s good to see the fact that it was her time to be in the limelight and she took full advantage of it.”

Caitlin Weber competed in the pole vault competition for the Cyclones and took home third place. The sophomore from Lakeville, Minnesota cleared 3.5 meters Friday night, setting a new personal record, as well as tying the school record in the process.

“I’m just trying to improve for the Classic next week, the school record has made me so happy but in the next couple weeks I’d like to keep improving and become more technical and continue to improve the technique,” Weber said.

Kianna Elahi added to the Cyclones’ weekend successes with a victory in women’s 600 yard run, while teammate Donnise Powell finished third in the same event. Powell and Elahi also ran as part of Iowa State’s “A” 4×400 meter relay team that finished second with senior Monique Hawkins and sophomore Callan Jacobson also contributing. Junior Brittany Rover finished fifth in a 3,000 meter event that was without several of Iowa State’s usual runners who took the week off in favor of a better performance at next week’s ISU Classic.

The ISU Classic is one of the team’s biggest meets of the indoor season and the team has worked all season to put itself in top shape for.

The meet will begin Thursday, Feb. 11 at 12:30 p.m. and continue through Saturday, Feb. 13 inside Lied Recreational Center.