The ISU men’s track and field team turned out a strong performance under favorable weather conditions at the Missouri State University Big Bear Invitational over the weekend. The Cyclones notched 11 top-five finishes, including four first-place victories in the second week of the outdoor season.

“It was like it was our first meet, because the weather conditions at our last meet were so poor,” said sprint coach Ronnie Williams. “I thought we went out and were able to compete well, and we saw some strong performances.”

Sophomore Brek Minarik got the Cyclones going by earning a victory in the 1,500-meter run. His teammate Michael Alexander was just over a second behind him, which was enough to take third in the event.

The Cyclones continued to build momentum throughout the rest of the meet. Junior Eric Parker added another first-place finish to the team’s total, running a time of 15.00 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles.

Sophomore David Lantz and Junior Richard Newton contributed to the team’s total points, finishing second and third in the 800-meter run. Lantz, who finished with a time of 1 minute, 56.46 seconds, came within a second of earning first place. Rupert Smith of Lincoln University won the event, crossing the finish line at 1 minute, 56.05 seconds. Johnny Reel also placed in the event for the Cyclones, finishing eighth.

Freshman Clayton Carper led the way in the 3,000 run, grabbing his first victory as a Cyclone. Carper’s time of 8 minutes, 44.21 seconds was fast enough to beat out sophomore teammate Josh Lewis, who finished second at 8 minutes, 53.73 seconds. Freshman Daniel Murray completed the team’s one-two-three finish, locking up third place at 8 minutes, 55.13 seconds.

Bart Howard improved upon his time from last weekend, placing fourth in the 400-meter hurdles at 55.79 seconds. Howard barely edged out sophomore Chris Ward, who ran a 55.84.

The Cyclones capped off their impressive meet by taking the top two places in the 4-by-400-meter relay. Jared Lewis also contributed a solid race, capturing third in the 100-meter dash.

While the majority of the team was at Missouri State, a few of the distance runners were in California for the Stanford Invitational. Competing against a strong field in the 5,000-meter, freshman Hillary Bor ran a personal-best time of 14 minutes, 3.45 seconds, winding up 10th in his section. Stephen Pifer of Colorado won the event with a time of 13 minutes, 40.54 seconds – the fastest time in the country this season.

Junior Kiel Uhl and sophomore Guor Majak also competed in their first races of the outdoor season, taking 16th and 19th, respectively, in their section for the 10,000-meter run.

The Cyclones will compete closer to home this weekend as they head to Drake for the Jim Duncan Invitational. The meet will give the Cyclones the chance to get acclimated to the track at Drake Stadium before the team heads back to Des Moines for the Drake Relays at the end of the month.