The second season is about to begin.

With the closing of the indoor season a few weeks ago for the Iowa State women’s track and field team, preparation began for the rigorous outdoor season. The season will begin this weekend when some Cyclones will travel to Raleigh, North Carolina, while others will compete in Palo Alto, California.

The Cyclones will have several athletes with outdoor championship experiences, including the defending champion in the 10,000-meter run, junior Lisa Koll.

Koll missed almost all of the indoor season with a lower back injury, but is back to preparation after several weeks of rehab.

“Lisa’s going to defend her title,” said head coach Corey Ihmels. “She’s back to training, and I would say she’s back to 90 or 95 percent. She’s going to be fine.”

Senior Grace Kemmey and sophomore Tiffanie Synacek are two other Cyclones with NCAA Championship experience, and are expected to get back to that level again in this outdoor season.

“Grace is going to make a big step up this season. She made it to nationals last year and I think she has a chance to be an All-American this year,” Ihmels said. “Tiffanie struggled a little bit this season indoors, but hopefully she has the same kind of path that she did last year and comes back with a great outdoor season.”

Last season, Synacek struggled through the indoor season under her new coach Pete Herber, but then bounced back to qualify for the championship meet.

This season, she had similar struggles indoors, but Herber is encouraged by what he’s seeing heading outside.

“Last year was a complete learning experience for her,” Herber said. “This year we did have a little bit of a struggle indoors, but she’s starting to put the pieces together again. I think that will happen for her earlier this season.”

“We need Tiffanie in the top three, scoring big points for us, and I definitely think she is capable of that.”

There will be two other athletes that could have exciting outdoor seasons: junior Jenna Caffrey and freshman Jordon Andreassen who will be competing in the heptathlon in a few meets this season. Both Caffrey and Andreassen finished in the points at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in the pentathlon, and will be looking to improve each time they compete outdoors.

The heptathlon adds the 200-meter dash and the javelin throw to the pentathlon events — the 800-meter run, shot put, long jump, high jump, and 60-meter hurdle competitions.

“Having the multi-event experience the girls had indoor is huge,” Herber said. “Adding the other two events will actually help them quite a bit. It’s just going to be more points to help them out.”

As the events move outdoors, new challenges arise for the athletes participating. Now, the weather may have an effect, as the meets won’t be held in dry, air-conditioned facilities, so conditions may be less than ideal on any given day.

Also, in distance events, especially, the magnitude of work changes drastically. The length of many races are extended, requiring a higher level of conditioning for many athletes.

The schedule outdoors also changes drastically, as the schedule for the Cyclones will have them going places such as California, Arizona, and North Carolina, whereas indoors the farthest the team had to travel to compete was to Lincoln, Nebraska.

The increased travel may have a huge effect on the preparation of the athletes early in the season, Ihmels said. However, the coaching staff acknowledges that the effects of travel will diminish as the athletes become accustomed to doing it week in, and week out.

The attitude at Lied Recreation Athletic Center is changing the closer the team gets to competing once again, and coaches and competitors alike are getting primed for a promising outdoor campaign.

“We’ve had a couple good weeks of preparation and have gotten a lot of things accomplished.” Ihmels said. “Both groups are going to go out this week and get some work done. We’re excited about getting outside.”