A great day for ISU jumpers was highlighted with Oliver Koenig’s season-best effort in the long jump Saturday at the Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco, Texas.

Koenig won the event with a mark of 25 feet, 6 3/4 inches, which qualifies him for the NCAA regional meet and ranks sixth nationally. He cited the track conditions as an important factor in his performance.

“I liked the track a lot; it was really beautiful,” he said. “The evening before, we did a warmup, and when you realize that it is a good track, you feel good about the meet.”

Koenig also said the rest of the team was happy with the conditions, too, which led to better performances from them as well.

He seemed somewhat unhappy with the competition at the meet, though.

“The Texas jumpers were really tall; I was disappointed in them. They were, like, a foot taller than me,” he said. “It would have been better to have someone [doing well] so we can push each other. That is how I like to compete.”

The rest of the jumpers also had a good day, as Gil Ridenour finished third in the high jump with a leap of 6-6 3/4 and Leigh Wagner tied for fourth in the women’s high jump, clearing 5-5. Jummy Alowonle rounded out the jumpers’ performances, leaping 18-11 1/4 in the long jump for a fifth-place finish.

On the track, Ada Anderson ran a time of 2 minutes, 7.96 seconds to place third in the 800-meter run. Meaghan Peoples won the 400-meter hurdles in the college division with a time of 1:01.92.

Rebecca Williams took third place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.83. Sara Boisen finished fifth in the 400-meter run with a time of 1:01.92. Rounding out the women’s top performances was Jenny Mockler, who placed seventh in the 1,500-meter run (4:44.74).

The rest of the team, scheduled to run in the UNI Twilight in Cedar Falls, did not compete because of the weather.

The Cyclones return to action next week in Des Moines at the Drake Relays, beginning Friday.