The ISU men’s track team came away with a win and two NCAA provisional qualifying times at the Iowa State Classic Friday and Saturday, but the spotlight this weekend was on Brandon Rooney.

Rooney, a sophomore from Tehachapi, Calif., set a personal record in the mile two weeks ago. He bettered that by over four seconds Saturday, with a time of 4 minutes, 4.04 seconds – just four-hundredths of a second behind the NCAA provisional qualifying time. Rooney would need to improve on that time to reach the NCAA Championships, but his immediate focus is on the Big 12 Championships in two weeks, which he will take one step at a time.

“I definitely think I can run faster, without a doubt, but as far as winning the Big 12s, I don’t know if that’s part of the plan yet,” Rooney said. “Right now, I still haven’t made finals at Big 12s, so that’s the first step. I just want to place well at Big 12s.”

Saturday’s race set up with Nebraska’s Peter van der Westhuizen jumping out to a lead that he would hold onto, winning in 4:01.79. Rooney hung back in the pack until a little over halfway through, and made a run at the end to finish third. Even though he didn’t pick up the win, Rooney followed his plan going into the race.

“That’s what coach wanted me to do – stay nice and relaxed and close really well, so I was really happy that I was able to do that,” he said. “I was able to execute the plan and just finish strong, because I’ve been struggling on my finish, so that was key today.”

The lone win for Iowa State came in the 5,000-meter run, where Guor Majak finished with a time of 14:24.39. Majak was hoping to see a faster pace, which would have led to a better time, but went with the pack in the beginning before taking the lead.

“I was just going with the pack to see who would take the lead,” Majak said. “I didn’t want to push it right away. Everyone was just running together, and it was in my strategy – just to hang back. I was expecting to go a little faster, but that’s the way the race is.”

Neil Hines scored a provisional mark in the heptathlon with 5,350 points, and took second in overall competition. Hines stood in third after the first four events, but left the first day of competition disappointed in his overall performance. He came back with a personal best in the pole vault with a jump of just over 16 feet.

“That first day he was a little frustrated, he didn’t have as good a day as he hoped,” coach Steve Lynn said. “He could have got down, but then the second day he came back and had a season-best in the hurdles, and had a huge pole vault.”

Hines will likely need to score higher in the Big 12 Championships to secure a spot in the NCAA Championships.

The 4×400 relay team of Jared Lewis, Elijah Braimah, James Robinson and Jared Graham also set a qualifying mark, finishing fifth with a time of 3:09.77, which will also likely need improvement to get into the NCAA meet. Elsewhere, Julian Morris had his best jump of the year in the high jump, finishing seventh. James Robinson took fifth in the 600-yard run.

The team heads to Cedar Falls Friday for the UNI-Dome Open, their last chance to prepare for the Big 12 Championships.