As students around campus are getting ready to head home for the summer, the ISU men’s and women’s track and field teams are still hard at work training for the championship stretch of the outdoor season.

In less than two weeks, the Cyclones will trek to Boulder, Colo., for the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships. During the indoor season, the men finished 11th. Although the team is always hoping to place higher, coach Corey Ihmels said the goal is for the team to continue working on training.

“We’re just focusing on getting better each day. Obviously, the Big 12s are important and we’re excited to get ready to compete,” Ihmels said. “It’s going to be a different conference meet with it being in Boulder. I think it’s going to have a lot of surprises.”

Following the Big 12 championships, the Cyclones will gear up for the NCAA Midwest Regional, held in Lincoln, Neb., this year. Several Cyclone athletes have already met NCAA regional qualifying standards.

Senior Jayden Russ will be running in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the same event in which he finished in eighth at last year’s Midwest regional. Freshman Hillary Bor has qualified in the steeplechase as well.

Bor, who also qualified in the 5,000-meter run, hopes to qualify in another event before the regional meet.

“I’m still looking to qualify in the 1,500-meter, but I am very excited for regionals,” he said. “Hopefully, I can make it to nationals.”

Another distance runner slated to run at the regional meet is Kiel Uhl, who will take the track for the 5,000-meter. After running in back-to-back weeks, Uhl won’t compete again until the Big 12 meet. The Prole native said his goal is to make sure he ready to go for the championship half of the season.

“My goal is to get rested and get my legs back under me, rely on my training on getting it done and just go out and compete,” Uhl said.

On the sprint side, newcomers Derron Montgomery and James Galvan have also qualified for regionals. Montgomery, a junior out of Garland, Texas, will run the 400-meter dash. He placed fifth in the event at the Big 12 Indoor Championships this year and has had several personal-best performances during the outdoor season.

In the 800-meter run, Galvan will have another opportunity to make the national meet. During the indoor season, the junior from Arizona was the only representative for the team at the NCAA Indoor championships, placing 10th.

At the Drake Relays this year, Galvan turned out an impressive run on the 800-meter leg of the distance medley relay. After starting the leg in 10th place, the junior sprinter moved the team all the way into first, clocking a split time of 1 minute, 50.3 seconds.

Sprint coach Ronnie Williams said after the race that he believes Galvan is just beginning to show what he can accomplish this season.

“The one thing about him is you haven’t seen him a lot outdoors, because we’re kind of waiting to do it until late in the year,” Williams said. “I think he’s getting ready to run fast. I think he’s getting ready to go down and peak as the conference season goes along.”

Two athletes on the women’s team have qualified for regionals. Lisa Koll and Grace Kemmey have both qualified in the 5000-meter run, and Koll has also qualified in the 10,000-meter run.

Koll set an American collegiate record in the 10,000 with a time of 32:11.13 on April 4 at the Stanford Invitational. She also sits third in the Midwest regional in the 5,000 with a time of 15:59.29, trailing Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego and Irene Kimaiyo.

Kemmey’s 16:51.52 in the 5,000 places her 14th in the Midwest.

The Cyclones have only had one athlete qualify for regionals in the field events. In only two months of collegiate competition, freshman Luke Pinkelman has made an impact, notching two victories in the outdoor season. The Cozad, Neb., native qualified for the regional meet in the shot put after besting the qualifying mark with a victory at the Missouri Relays in late March.

The remainder of the team has two more weeks to achieve last-minute qualifying times. If any of the Cyclone athletes grab berths in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, they will be able to compete in Des Moines at Drake Stadium starting on June 11.