Iowa State men’s and women’s cross country teams are moving forward, and they’ll attempt to continue that progression Saturday in their NCAA Regional races.

After finishing third in the Big 12 Championship two weeks ago, Iowa State’s men will try to finish in the top two of the Midwest Region and earn an automatic bid into the National Championships. Meanwhile, the Cyclone women are working to build on their solid and young foundation for next year.

“I thought the Big 12 [Championships] went really well, but didn’t feel like we were hitting on all cylinders,” coach Corey Ihmels said earlier this week. “We’ve had a couple good weeks of training and I feel really good about where we’re at.”

The men will face stiff competition in their 10,000-meter race Saturday, including Big 12 Champion Oklahoma State, which is ranked No. 1 in the Midwest Region, Midwest No. 2 Minnesota, and No. 3 Tulsa. The Cyclones will be trying to knock off defending Midwest Champion Oklahoma State after the Cowboys ran away with the Big 12 Championship two weeks ago.

Iowa State has had a chance to run against the top three teams in the region, and had solid performances each time out.

“Oklahoma State is going to be the team to beat,” Ihmels said about the competition. “Tulsa beat us at pre-Nationals, but we beat Minnesota at the Roy Griak Invitational. After Oklahoma State, it’s going to come down to a couple of points.”

Ihmels and his runners know what a close race is like, after finishing one point behind Colorado for second place in the Big 12 Championship. Junior Guor Marial finished sixth in the race, while senior Kiel Uhl finished seventh.

“We had Colorado on the ropes and didn’t finish it,” Ihmels said. “Hopefully we can make amends for that this weekend.”

The men and women will also have a chance at in-state rival Iowa in the meet, with a chance to bring Iowa State to within one point of the Hawkeyes in the Cy-Hawk Series. Last year the Cyclone men won the head-to-head challenge, while the Hawkeye women out-ran Lisa Koll and Iowa State.

The Cyclone women will run to improve upon their standing in the Midwest Region, while building their young foundation up for next year. They come into the race ranked No.10 in the Midwest Region, after starting the year unranked.

Iowa State is led into the Regional race by freshmen Meaghan Nelson and Dani Stack, who finished thirty-third and thirty-sixth, and junior Paige Ties, who finished forty-fifth.

“It’s been a fun year with the women, and I’m really excited about where they’re at,” Ihmels said.

Without All-Americans Koll and Grace Kemmey, Ihmels and the Cyclone women have been trying to set up a solid foundation to build off of for next year, when the two return from redshirting.

“They’ve made tremendous progress,” Ihmels said.

“We’d really like to get into the top 10 and make a statement to what they’ve done this year, and where we can be next year.”