To meet the NCAA’s minimum required number of competitions, the ISU cross country team will travel to Drake University on Friday for what will be a “really, really, really, really low-key meet.”

The Drake Fall Classic will be just the two teams competing, and “both schools are using it as a workout,” said women’s head coach Dick Lee.

“We’re not going to back down at all training-wise. [We’ll use this meet] just to get our feet wet,” men’s head coach Corey Ihmels said.

Ihmels said the men have been practicing hard and that he is excited about his team.

“We’ve got six or seven seniors with a lot of experience,” he said. “I can’t assess our potential yet, but I think we have a strong group of returnees and newcomers. I hope they mesh well by the end of the year.”

“We should be able to do very well by the time conference [competition] comes around.”

Lee said that this weekend, ISU will compete with Drake in what he calls a “fast workout for us.”

“We’re not even thinking racing thoughts,” Lee said.

“[We just want to get into] a fast-paced pack-run.”

In practice, Lee said that the intensity of the workouts has picked up with the start of classes. He said the hardest part about increasing the intensity has more to do with timing changes than the level of work.

“A lot of [the team] ran in the morning during the summer, and now they are running in the afternoon,” Lee said.

“It takes a couple of weeks for the body to recover from breaking that habit.”

Upperclassmen Lindsey Nye and Meredith McKean said the women’s team has potential this fall.

“The women’s team is really working hard,” Nye said.

“[We’ve got a] good core group of women returning from last year who want to make an impact on the Big 12.”

Last year was the first in collegiate competition for many Cyclones, McKean said.

“This fall, we have better expectations for the season,” McKean said. “This summer, I took a good look back on my past finishes and placings, and I was really disappointed. I used that for motivation. I hope to make big improvements on those placings this fall.”