Plans always change, and the ISU track and field team just had its weekend plans changed.

The Cyclones originally planned to send their throwers and a small group of runners to Lincoln, Neb., this weekend for the Adidas Classic. However, the University of Nebraska, the host of the meet, decided to convert the meet into a team points competition, and Iowa State was left off the guest list.

“We’re not very happy about it,” assistant coach Nate Wiens said.

Instead of getting another week’s worth of competition underneath their belts, the teams will stay home and get back to work. And with just three weeks until the Big 12 Indoor Championships the week off may be a blessing in disguise.

In the first meet of the season, the Cyclones saw 48 athletes finish inside the top ten in the two days of competition at the Iowa State Open, including big wins in several events. The Cyclone coaches, however, are always looking at each event area and how they could improve in the weeks leading up to the conference championships.

The extra down time will allow those coaches to iron out flaws and get back to doing what has worked since the beginning of the season.

“All of the women came back looking great,” assistant coach John Dagata said. “This week has got to go well. We need to get after it like I saw them before Christmas Break. Before the break I saw kids really motivated.”

Time off will also allow for senior Amy Waggoner to recover from a viral infection that kept her out of the shot put competition in the Iowa State Open.

“Amy’s getting back on track,” Dagata said. “She looked really good before the meet, and she did well in the weight. She’s going to lead this team into the Big 12.”

For the runners, this is an opportunity to assess where they’re at in training and bounce back from a tough weekend.

“I can’t worry about how the past weekend went,” junior Lashawn Wright said. “I just have to suck it up and fix whatever I did wrong. I have to continue making myself better and remember what my coaches are telling me.”

During the Iowa State Open Wright finished fifth in the 200-meter dash, second in the 60-meter dash and anchored the women’s 4×400-meter relay team that took first place in the event.

Wright took the handoff in that race from sophomore Jenna Caffrey who will be using the week off to not only improve her usual events, but to continue working on something new for later in the season.

“I’m working on the heptathlon,” Caffrey admitted. “I don’t want to lose focus on the hurdles, because there will be some meets where that’s what I’m doing. Right now we’re seeing how the events go and stuff like that.”

Caffrey started preparation for potential heptathlon competitions by winning the 60-meter hurdles and placing ninth in the women’s shot put during the Iowa State Open.

“One of our volunteer throws coaches … was helping her last weekend,” Dagata said about Caffrey. “It looked like it paid off, didn’t it?”

The general consensus among the coaches is that the extra week of preparation will be good for all the athletes to catch up on training.

“The week off will be good,” Wiens said. “If they have to spike up for two days, it’s beneficial to come back with a week off. Mentally and physically it gives their bodies a little bit of rest.”

“We’ll do some sort of time trial, or make it fun for them to where they can still get up with a good level of competition.”

Head coach Corey Ihmels wasn’t thrilled about missing an opportunity to compete, but was excited to see his teams working so hard in their time off.

“It gives us a chance to go back to work and get in some of the training that maybe we didn’t do a good enough job of over break or coaches hadn’t gotten to yet,” Ihmels said. “Being able to look around and see each group working hard and trying to get better is all we can do at this point.”

The Cyclones have just one more meet — next week’s Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. — before the ISU Classic. The Classic will take place Feb. 12 to 14 at Lied Recreation Athletic Center and feature many of the nation’s top athletes and teams.