The weekend the ISU women’s track team will hit the track competitively for the first time in almost a month.

However, this weekend will be unique for the Cyclones, as some athletes will compete in the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., while others will participate in the Raleigh Relays in Raleigh, N.C.. Coach Corey Ihmels arrived in California Wednesday with a small group of distance runners, while the rest of the coaching staff and the remaining competitors left for Raleigh on Thursday.

In Palo Alto:

Just three of the Cyclone women will be competing in California — most notably, senior Grace Kemmey. Kemmey placed fourth last season in the 5,000-meter run at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, and also regionally qualified in both that and the 10,000-meter event.

Kemmey posted some solid finishes during the indoor season, but never got to where she wanted to be. Although she did qualify for the NCAA Championships in the 3,000-meter run, she was withdrawn from the event so she could focus on preparing for the outdoor season.

This will be Kemmey’s first competition since the Big 12 Championships that took place February 27 and 28.

“Grace is going to make a big step up,” Ihmels said. “She’s going to run her 10k this weekend, so we’ll see how that goes.”

Joining Kemmey will be freshman Betsy Saina and junior Paige Ties. Ties ran an indoor season-best 17:39.94 in the 5,000-meter run at the ISU Classic and also put up a 10:05.17 in the 3,000-meter run at the ISU Open.

One Cyclone that won’t be competing this weekend is Lisa Koll, who is close to returning to action after missing much of the season with a lower-back injury. Recently, Koll has gotten back to training full strength. Ihmels said she is between 90 to 95 percent healthy.

Ihmels placed a timetable for Koll’s return at about four to five weeks, meaning she could be back in time for the Kansas Relays on April 17. However, Ihmels said the defending National Champion in the 10,000-meter run would most likely return for the Drake Relays on April 24 and 25.

In Raleigh:

By far, the bulk of the Cyclone women will be competing in Raleigh this weekend, and coaches are anxious to see how many younger athletes will do in a large-meet environment such as this one.

“We’ve got a young group and hopefully this experience helps us,” Ihmels said. “Going from indoor to outdoor is almost like you’ve had that freshman year and now you’re a sophomore.”

Highlighting the competitors for the group in Raleigh will be juniors Lashawn Wright and Jenna Caffrey, freshman Kianna Elahi, and the young group of throwers. As with the distance group, for most of the athletes this will be the first competition since the Big 12 Championship.

However, the wait to compete has not affected the attitudes of many coaches and athletes, because as the coaching staff knows the outdoor season is a marathon, not a sprint.

“I’m not anxious because I know we have three months before the Big 12 Championships,” said assistant coach Nate Wiens. “I don’t think the athletes are that anxious, either, because they know we’re still in a training phase.”

Caffrey will be competing in the javelin-competition for the first time, as well as running the 100-meter hurdles in preparation for competing in the heptathlon later in the season.

For Wright, this will be another chance to get back on track after a difficult indoor season, while for others it is simply an opportunity for more competition.

“This is a good opportunity for our younger athletes that might not make the bigger travel squads,” Wiens said. “It’s a good opportunity for me to see how they handle big-meet exposure. Most of them are ready to roll.”

Competition will begin Friday morning in both locations and continue through Saturday afternoon.