The Cyclones were a split group again this weekend, as they sent one group to Arizona while keeping another group closer to home in Des Moines.

At the Sun Angel Track Classic in Tempe, Ariz., the sprinters and jumpers got a chance to compete against a talented group of contenders in one of the nation’s top meets. Junior Lashawn Wright provided the fireworks for the Cyclones when she clocked a time of 23.94 seconds in the 200-meter dash, just under the NCAA Regional qualifying time of 23.96.

“That’s what we wanted to do,” said assistant coach Nate Wiens. “We wanted to go run out and qualify for Regionals in her first meet out, and that’s what she did.”

It was a big step for Wright to qualify for the regional event so early in the season, and allows her to shift her focus on to other goals later in the season. Her time was a personal best in the event, but would only qualify as the 12th-best time in the Big 12 so far this season.

“Last year it took 23.3 to score in this conference,” Wiens said. “That’s the goal, to start and break it down and realize what she’s got to run to score at the conference meet.

“We’ve already had those discussions and we’re not trying to be a regional athlete anymore — we’re trying to be a conference athlete and go to nationals.”

Wiens said Wright was upset after her race, saying she felt she left some time on the track. Still, the coaching staff was encouraged even though the performance wasn’t all she was capable of doing.

In the coming weeks, Wiens and Wright will work on small things they discovered in the race that could shave fractions of a second off her time — valuable time in a short-distance sprint.

“Technically I think she’s got some things she can work on,” said head coach Corey Ihmels. “It was a big race for her, and she didn’t even hit it on all cylinders, so that’s exciting.”

Wright wasn’t the only one to have success in the desert this weekend. Freshman Kianna Elahi continued her outstanding rookie campaign with a second-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a 1:01.01.

Although Elahi finished the race in second place, her time was two seconds off of her first performance in the event two weeks prior. Wiens attributed the time drop to the first-meet adrenaline that pushed her the first time around.

“Kianna is making progress and competing against some of the best kids in the country,” Ihmels said. “She’s going to keep getting close to that 60-second mark. She’s a competitor and doesn’t like to lose.”

Much like her older teammate, Elahi was described as being “unhappy” after her race Saturday. Wiens said Elahi had a good take off, but struggled in the last 200 meters of the race.

“Kianna has a better ability to find the line than any other woman I’ve coached,” Wiens said. “She just has to realize how to do it every time.”

In Des Moines, the Cyclones were led by a deep, young group of throwers.

Not ever really getting a week off, the throwers essentially trained through the competition this weekend, and continued on their trek toward the Big 12 Championships.

“Obviously the throws group did a good job and was pretty consistent,” Ihmels said.

The Cyclones had five top-five finishes in the throw events, including a win in the shot put competition, and a second-place finish in both the shot put and hammer throw. Freshman Danielle Frere took the shot competition with a personal-best throw of 48-08. The lone sophomore Britta Cristofferson took second place in both the shot put and hammer throw competitions.

Senior Amy Waggoner rounded out the top fives with a third-place in the hammer throw and a fifth-place toss in the shot put.

“The throwers are training hard and being consistent,” Ihmels said. “They had personal record after personal record and that group is just going to keep getting better with age.

“All-in-all I thought it was a good weekend, both groups made a lot of progress.”