This weekend will bring more separation for the Cyclone track and field teams as they will compete in four different meets in three different states.

The majority of the men’s team will be in California to compete in the Pomona Pitzer Invitational in Claremont, Calif., on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., on Friday and Saturday. The majority of the women’s team will be in Columbia, Mo., for the Tom Botts Invitational on Friday and Saturday, and throwers from both teams will head to Lincoln, Neb., for the Nebraska Invitational on Saturday.

Coach Steve Lynn said the men’s main goal is to try to get more people qualified for the NCAA Regional Meet at the end of next month. Among those competitors, Lynn is looking for David Rotich to set another ISU record in the mile.

“We’ve never had somebody run under four minutes outdoors in the mile because they don’t run it very often, so hopefully it’s a race where he can do that. He can set a standard there,” Lynn said.

Lynn expects distance runners to step up, including Dan Taylor, who hopes to qualify for regionals in the 5000-meter run.

“Our distance guys are going to get races out there, and I think they’re really ready to step it up and get some fast times out there,” Lynn said. “Dan Taylor is going to have a chance to qualify for regionals.”

Other competitors Lynn is looking to qualify for the regional meet are Elijah Braimah in the 400-meter run, Kellen Burl in the 110 hurdles, Eric Parker in the 400 hurdles, and the 4×400 team of Braimah, Parker, Tony Stanfield and either Gabe Kimpson or James Robinson.

Kendall Fogle and Chase Madison will throw at Nebraska, with Fogle in the hammer throw, and Madison in the discus and possibly the shot put. Madison has already qualified for regionals in the discus, but is questionable in the shot put because of prior injury.

“Chase [Madison] will give it a try on his hand, and see how it feels throwing the shot put this weekend for the first time in a year, the first time after having wrist surgery in November,” Lynn said.

For the women, the main thing coach Dick Lee is looking for is improvement.

“The big thing is we look for continued improvement week by week. This is the time of the year that we’re working pretty hard,” Lee said.

“We’ve seen a drop in times, and they’ve done a good job of competing when they step on the track.

“We just continue with that and continue to try to beat people, and good things are going to happen.”

Sprints coach Scott Roberts noted that everything is leading up to the Drake Relays on April 27, 28 and 29.

“We’re really gearing up for the Drake Relays, trying to see where we’re at from a training standpoint as we go into the meat of the season, getting ready for conference and regionals,” Roberts said.

Ada Anderson will compete in the 800-meter run, and will look to see where she is at this point in the season after qualifying for regionals two weeks ago.

“We took a step back and did some training, and now we’re ready to see where we’re at, training-wise, again and get back into it,” Roberts said.

Lee said he is looking forward to Erica Lynn, who has hit the provisional qualifying score for the heptathlon, to compete in single events.

“This will be a chance for Erica Lynn to just run a couple open races, run a couple of open events, and just concentrate on those rather than doing a multi-event.”

The first event for the Pomona Invitational will be the 10,000-meter run at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. The Mt. SAC Relays will start at 1:30 p.m. Thursday with the men’s 400-meter dash and the first event at Tom Botts Invitational will be the hammer throw at 3 p.m. Friday.

The Nebraska Invitational will kick off with the hammer throw at 11 a.m. Friday.