Turning a program from a pretender to a contender does not happen overnight.

On Saturday at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships, the ISU men’s team took its biggest step toward being one of the elite teams in the nation after a strong third-place finish.

“It just speaks volumes to where we’re at,” said head coach Corey Ihmels. “We were fourth two years ago, and now we’re third. The guys did a tremendous job and I’m proud of them.”

One of the storylines coming into the meet was the possibility of crowning a team champion not named Colorado. The No. 17 Buffaloes had a perfect resume at the Big 12’s, winning all 12 since the league was formed in 1996.

The string was snapped by the third-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys, who dominated the meet with a winning score of 26. Ihmels knew the Cowboys had won, but the race for second between the Buffaloes and Cyclones was down to the wire, and in the end, Colorado edged Iowa State by one point.

“The guys were disappointed not being able to get Colorado, because it was one of our goals,” Ihmels said. “They are a marquee program, so being right there with them really shows us how far we’ve come.”

Putting a program on the map is tough to do, and a key part to making that happen is having runners who can take the team under their wings and carry them. Two individuals gave the team a boost with solid efforts on Saturday.

Junior Guor Marial and senior Kiel Uhl finished sixth and seventh respectively to lead the charge. Both runners said the team goal was to win the Big 12 title, but the rise of the program and how far they have come was the best part of Saturday.

“We were going to be happy if we won it all or finished in the top two or three,” Marial said. “It’s cross country, any team can win, and we feel very confident now with what we did out here today.”

Uhl, who has been through the process of turning this team into a national power since the first day he arrived on campus, said the body of work has gotten better year after year.

“My freshman year we had a really good group of guys that really worked hard. I really think it’s us, my freshman class, that has really gotten this program to where it is. We’ve added a few international guys, and they’ve helped out.”

The team has raised the level of competition each time they’ve touched the course, but Ihmels knows the Cyclones can run even better come regionals and nationals.

“We keep moving up the ranks and the guys keep working hard each day, so hopefully this program can keep rising up the ranks in the next few years. The good part is that the guys didn’t feel they did their best today, and I don’t think we’ve run the best race we can run yet.”

The team knows that in order to put the program on the map completely, they will have to put together a big performance at nationals.

“There is only one meet that matters,” Uhl said, “and that’s nationals.”

Ihmels echoed Uhl when talking about where this program needs to go next to take the big step.

“We felt that we were a top-ten team at the beginning of the year, and we set a goal of being the top two or three in the conference. I know the guys are upset with not beating Colorado today, but I just told them to be pissed off for awhile, but then come back ready to go.”

Ihmels has seen the growth over the years, and knows the potential the team has from here on out.

“When I took the job six or seven years ago, we weren’t even thinking about beating Colorado, so to be talking and be disappointed by losing to them by one point really shows how far this program has come.”

The Cyclones will get a chance to stamp their mark on the rest of the nation at the national championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 24.