Team sets goal to beat last year’s championship finish

By Kyle Oppenhuizen

Daily Staff Writer

It comes down to this: At the end of last year’s Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships, the ISU men’s team sat in a disappointing 11th place, prompting coach Steve Lynn to vow his team would not accept that in this year’s meet. The time to prove that is here, with the Big 12 Championships coming to the Lied Recreation Athletic Center on Friday and Saturday.

“We’ll compete to be better,” Lynn said. “Hopefully breaks go our way and we have some things happen. Our team is better than that [11th place finish], but every team in this conference, is really really good.”

What makes the conference meet more intense than a regular meet is that all of the competitions are scored for team points as well, with first place getting 10 points down to eighth place receiving one. Although every athlete wants to do well for themselves, the motivation of helping the team do well is more important, according to multi-event athlete Neil Hines.

“That’s the highest priority; this is what all of our training’s geared toward,” Hines said. “I’m going to go out and fight for every point I can get, one point can sometimes be the difference between a place in the team standings. If everyone does that it all adds up, so that’s motivation to do well.”

Hines has extra motivation, however – this is his last chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the heptathlon. Hines hit a provisional qualifying mark with 5,350 points in the Iowa State Classic, but will need to improve on that to ensure a spot in the championship field. The NCAA automatic qualifying mark is 5,650.

He will compete against a loaded field, including a two-time National Champion in the Heptathlon, Donovan Kilmartin of Texas, and Ben Schutter of Nebraska, who currently has the ninth best score in the nation. After that, it will be wide open.

“There’s going to be a few guys right around where I’m at, so I want to score the most points for the team and score enough points at the end to be a little ahead of that pack,” Hines said. “If I do that I’m going to get into nationals, and I’ll get the school record too. Try to place high, and nationals and the record will happen.”

Brandon Rooney will try to improve upon his near-NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4 minutes 4.04 seconds in the mile. Rooney has yet to prove himself against Big 12 level competition, but will get his shot this weekend.

“I don’t think anybody’s really expecting him to be one of the guys in the finals at the end, but I think he’s capable of doing some great things,” assistant coach Corey Ihmels said. “I think he’s capable of getting through the prelims and we’ll go from there.”

Elsewhere for the Cyclones, after winning the 5000-meter run two weeks ago at the Iowa State Classic, Guor Majak will compete in the 5000 and 3000-meter runs this weekend. Also Chase Madison may compete for the first time during the indoor season in the shot put, but is questionable coming off of a hand and foot injury.

Despite the strength of the conference, Lynn emphasized his team wouldn’t back down.

“Our guys are going to compete like they’re champions out there, and that’s what you have to do,” he said. “Every time you step onto the track, whatever else has happened doesn’t affect you, it’s what you do.”

Women’s track hopes home-field advantage carries momentum from recent wins

By Brian Guillaume

Daily Staff Writer

No more warm-up meets – it’s go time for the ISU women’s track team as they host the Big 12 Conference in the 11th annual Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Big 12 is one of the toughest conferences in the nation in track and field and the Cyclones will try to do all they can to use the home track advantage and have a strong showing throughout the weekend.

“It’s a tough conference,” said senior sprinter Rebecca Williams. “I think the highest people in the conference will be your All-Americans and will be your people that will be top in the country.”

Perhaps one of the biggest advantages the Cyclones have this weekend will be being able to perform on their home track. Williams said she thinks running at home is a big advantage in a meet as tough as the Big 12 conference.

“You don’t have to get used to a different warm-up area, different blocks, everything is so familiar and the comfort level is nice for everyone,” Williams said. “Everyone just has to really focus as much as they can and just bring it, there’s really nothing else you can say.”

The young Cyclone team heads into the weekend with momentum from a strong performance two weeks ago at one of the biggest indoor meets in the nation – the Iowa State Classic.

“I think it gave us a lot of momentum being able to perform well at that meet. They’re not going to see anything too different at this meet than what they saw at the Classic,” said sprints coach Scott Roberts. “So they will see the level of competition of the Classic. They will be a lot more confident knowing they can compete at that level.”

Williams heads into the weekend undefeated at home this season and ranked No. 1 in the conference in the 60-meter hurdles. Williams has been running consistently of late, which she said has helped her confidence.

Sara Boisen comes into the weekend off her best race of the season, in which she finished second in the 600-meter run to former world champion in the 200 meters. Boisen, a senior from West Des Moines Valley, is another favorite for the Cyclones to score points as she is ranked third in the 600 meters.

Redshirt freshman Lisa Koll enters the weekend with a ton of momentum. Koll, a NCAA All-American in cross country, is ranked in the top five in both the 3000 and 5000 meters. Koll has set the school record in the 5000 meters and has ran a NCAA provisional time that should get her into the championships at Arkansas.

Along with the veteran leadership, the Cyclones will also look for contributions from two of the fastest freshman for Iowa State in recent memory. Jenna Caffrey and Lashawn Wright look to continue their strong freshman campaigns with a strong performance this weekend. Caffery comes into the weekend ranked sixth in the conference in the 60-meter hurdles and will look to make it all the way to finals, which would be a huge accomplishment for a freshman in a conference as strong as the Big 12.

“I just want to go out there and do my best and hopefully that can be another PR [personal record],” Caffery said. “I want to take it step by step and hopefully make finals.”

Wright said she wants to improve off what she thought was a disappointing meet at the Classic.

“I’m not coming in here and expecting to be on top, but I want to do the best I can and be somewhere in the finals,” she said.