The time has come to take a step back and take a look at the big picture.

With the conference championship gone, the ISU women’s track team will take to the indoor track one more time for the NCAA Qualifier this weekend, giving the athletes one more chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

“There really isn’t anybody we’re looking to punch in,” said head coach Corey Ihmels. “Some of the athletes we were looking to get to nationals won’t get in.”

One of those athletes is Lisa Koll, who will have to sit out of another competition with a lingering injury. Koll, the defending outdoor national champion in the 10,000-meter run, would have had the best chance of any Cyclone athletes to qualify this weekend.

Senior Grace Kemmey also won’t be competing this weekend. Kemmey ran a provisional-qualifying mark at the Big 12 Championships in the 5,000-meter run, but was 10 seconds off the provisional pace in the 3,000-meter event. The provisional time likely won’t get her into nationals, and she won’t get another shot at improving on it.

“Grace has been a little off,” Ihmels said. “We’re really just starting to prepare for outdoor season with her.”

One group Ihmels thought might have the best weekend, and possibly an outside shot at getting some qualifying marks, is the young group of throwers led by assistant coach John Dagata. In the other groups, though, the coaching staff will be looking for further improvement on the season’s efforts.

“Some of the throwers like [freshmen] Laishema Hampton and Danielle Frere are kind of on the outside looking in,” Ihmels said. “In the distance events we’re just looking for some personal records.”

Also, sophomore Jenna Caffrey will have a chance to hit a provisional mark in the 60-meter hurdles. Although Caffrey struggled at the Big 12 Championships, she was just .04 seconds off the provisional time of 8.43 seconds at the ISU Classic in mid-February.

With no other significant chances at qualifying marks this weekend, the best Iowa State can hope for is a chance to once again perform against some of the nation’s best in preparation for the outdoor season.

Athletes from some of the nation’s top programs will make the trip to Ames this weekend for one final chance to hit an automatic-qualifying mark, or to improve on a provisional mark from earlier in the season.

“For the women as well as the men, we’ve got to look at in terms of what progress we’ve made,” Ihmels said. “Going into outdoor season we’ll get everybody back healthy, and when we’re a full squad we’ll get closer to being in the top half of the conference.”

The NCAA Qualifier will begin Saturday morning in Lied Recreation Athletic Center, with field events slated to begin at 10:30 and running events at approximately 11:25.