Williams sets provisional mark for upcoming meet

By Brian Guillaume

Daily Staff Writer

After a two-week hiatus, the ISU women’s track team returns home this weekend as it cohosts the Iowa State Classic this weekend with the men’s track team.

The Iowa State Classic will be a step-up in competition from previous meets the Cyclones have ran so far this season. The Classic will provide the Cyclones with an opportunity to run some of their fastest times and compete against some of the best in the nation.

“[At this] level of competition . people are faster and bigger,” coach Dick Lee said. “It’s a lot deeper meet, there’s a wide range of ability in the meet. The top eight to ten performers in each event are . usually national caliber-type kids.”

One Cyclone runner looking to prove herself against national competition this weekend is Rebecca Williams. Williams was the only Cyclone representing Iowa State this past weekend at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, leaving her mark in the process. Williams ran the 60-meter hurdles in 8.42 seconds, good enough to provisionally qualify her for the NCAA Indoor National Championships, hosted by the University of Arkansas.

“It was my goal; I’m just hoping to get a little bit faster,” Williams said. “It’s still early so I was excited to get it out of the way.”

Williams – who ran at the meet because she missed the previous meet because of an interview – will have to run 8.15 to guarantee herself a spot at the championship meet.

Other Cyclones looking to follow in Williams footsteps, including distance runner Lisa Koll. A former All-American, Koll is coming off a dominating performance at the ISU Open where she set a new meet record.

She will increase the distance for the Classic and tackle the 5000 run. Koll will hope to run faster than 16 minutes, 40 seconds in order to get the qualifying standard.

The Cyclones will also benefit from the return of former conference champion Agata Kosuda, who missed last season due to injury, and senior middle-distance runner, Jenny Mockler.

Lee thinks this meet is crucial to the remainder of the season.

“This and the Big 12 meet are our two biggest chances here in the next month to get qualified for nationals.” Lee said.

Although Williams and Koll are no stranger to big-time meets, the Classic will provide an opportunity for the younger athletes to compete against some of the best in the nation. Williams thinks the meet will give the younger girls an opportunity to see what running in championship style meets is like.

“I think it’s a good thing that we have this considering we are having conference here, so they need to see that big competition before we actually host the conference.” Williams said.

Koll also thinks the meet will give the younger runners an opportunity to see what they are capable of doing and the motivation to work harder.

“It’s a step-up for everyone, especially us as a distance team. We have a lot of really young girls and I think it’s a place for them to see what big competition is really like.” Koll said.

Men’s track faces toughest competition yet

By Kyle Oppenhuizen

Daily Staff Writer

Track fans in central Iowa have a golden opportunity in the next month to see large-scale track and field meets at the Lied Recreation Athletic Center, starting Friday and Saturday with one of the most competitive meets in the nation – the Iowa State Classic.

“It’s the deepest collegiate meet in the country, year in and year out, and it will be again this year,” coach Steve Lynn said.

The meet will feature six teams from the Big 12 in addition to the Cyclones, and will not only serve as a preview for the Big 12 Championships in two weeks, but will also see athletes from all over the nation. The competition will give the Cyclones a good barometer as to where they are after the first month of the season.

“If you step up and if you’re in the top 10 in this meet, you’ve competed really well, you have a chance to do things,” Lynn said. “If you finish in the top three in this meet, you feel like you have a chance to win any meet you step into.”

Iowa State is coming off a two-week layoff following the Adidas Classic in Lincoln, Neb., a meet that saw no Cyclone victories. The step-up in competition from that meet to this weekend’s meet translated into a need for improvement, which started in practice.

“I was interested to see how we would respond to not competing as well as we wanted to over at Nebraska, and the guys came back with a great effort in practice last week and this week, and we’ll see how that translates into performances,” Lynn said. “I’d be very surprised if we don’t have season’s bests in everything throughout our team.”

One of the best ISU performers in Nebraska was Brandon Rooney. Rooney, a sophomore from Tehachapi, Calif., said he felt behind most of freshman year because of a stress fracture in the fall. He has come back this year, however, and took third place in the 1,600-meter run at Nebraska, setting a personal record. This weekend, Rooney is looking for experience that will help him in the conference meet.

“It just gives you a feel for the depth, and how the race will go; how the race can go at the Big 12s,” Rooney said. “It’s just more experience with really good competition, which is what the Big 12 has. “Instead of setting a target goal, Rooney has taken the approach of racing the competition, not himself, a strategy he will take into the weekend.

“I’m really just going out there to race, putting it all out on the line,” he said. “I’m really not focused on times. I just want to see what I can do in competition.”

The 4×400 relay team of Jared Lewis, Elijah Braimah and Jared Graham, along with another runner to be decided upon, is also looking for a breakthrough meet.

“They have a goal to break the school record, and get qualified for the NCAAs, so we’ll see what happens,” Lynn said. “They’ve been training really well.”

With the Big 12 Championships approaching, the Cyclones will experience competition that can only help prepare them.

“This is actually in many regards the most competition we will see all year,” Lynn said. “It’s the deepest meet in the nation. I don’t think there’s any question.”