The ISU men’s track team had a competitive meet at the Adidas Classic in Lincoln, Neb. on Saturday, and is now working toward coming out strong in the remaining indoor season.

“We had areas where we looked really good,” said head coach Steve Lynn. “But we need to make a big jump from here to when we get to the conference meet, so it’s up to the guys to step up and look toward each meet to get better. I think we’re going to do that.”

The Cyclones didn’t come away with any wins at the Adidas Classic, but featured a number of strong performances, including a third-place finish by Brandon Rooney in the mile run, with a time of 4 minutes 8.97 seconds.

“I’m excited for Brandon Rooney,” Lynn said. “He’s a much better runner than he was a year ago at this time, and he’s a better runner than he was two months ago, so that’s exciting to see that.”

Assistant coach Corey Ihmels felt good about the rest of the distance runners, most of whom competed in the mile. Notables included Guor Majak, who finished fifth, and Kevin Born, who finished sixth. Johnny Reel finished second in the 1000-meter run, with a time of 2:29.75.

“I think overall we had some great performances and [the] guys did pretty well,” Ihmels said. “I think all in all we got what we wanted today. Obviously this wasn’t the end-all, be-all meet, so we could kind of go into it a little loose, see what we can do, and I think we came out on pretty good showings for most people.”

Other strong performances included Elijah Braimah leading off the third-place 4×400 relay team along with Gabe Kimpson, James Robinson and Jared Graham. Braimah also took second in the 600-yard run, getting edged out at the line by Nebraska’s Lukas Hulett.

“[Hulett] from Nebraska just leaned past Elijah at the tape,” Lynn said. “It seemed like we ended up at the short end of every close race.”

Zac Brouillette competed in the shot put after winning it unattached last weekend, and followed it up with a fifth-place finish, throwing 50-feet 2-inches – just 4 inches short of his throw last weekend.

“He didn’t go backwards at all,” Lynn said. “Right now, he’s just got to compete every time he steps out there.”

Also, Jared Lewis had a pair of good performances, with a second-place long jump of 23-feet 7.25-inches, and a fifth-place finish in the 60-meter dash, with a finals time of 6.89 seconds.

The Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships will take place Feb. 23 and 24 in Ames. The immediate concern for the Cyclones, however, is the Iowa State Classic, which they will host on Feb. 9 and 10.

“We need to make a big improvement from here in these next two weeks before our next meet, and I think we’re ready to do that,” Lynn said.