Competitors in the field events led the way for the ISU men’s track and field team at the Big 12 Championships.

Iowa State garnered 48 points in Norman, Okla., good for an eighth-place finish at the conference meet. The Cyclones placed in 11 events, and scored 14 times in all.

The finish pleased head coach Steve Lynn.

“We had a lot of people in finals,” Lynn said. “We had many season bests in almost every event. That is what we wanted to do down here.”

With all of the high showings for Iowa State, Lynn said his team had some good surprises.

“There were many things [that happened] that I was pleased with,” Lynn said. “Tony Stewart wasn’t ranked going into the discus and ended up with sixth place. He bettered his season’s best by 17 feet. He also got fifth in the hammer throw with his lifetime-best throw.

“Tony Douglas earned second place in the long jump with a career best 25-5. With the conditions he had [rain, cold and windy], he had a super jump. He also got eighth place in the triple jump. Neil Hines did great in the decathlon. He never ran the decathlon before. They all did great, but were not the only ones.”

The men also had some disappointing moments in Norman.

“We had two athletes who were injured: Ryan Boyington and Tyson Hilgenberg. They both had great performances, though,” Lynn said. “The 4×400 relay team got knocked around in the exchange, which cost them a top-four finish. If everything would have gone right, we could have been in the top half of the team standings.”

Of the three athletes who scored points in two events, Douglas scored the highest with a second-place finish. His leap in the long jump ranks him in the top 10 in the nation in that event. Douglas was happy and a little surprised with his mark.

“This was a good meet for me,” Douglas said. “I am a little surprised that I got it in. I was just jumping decent and everything came together.”

Douglas said there’s still room for improvement.

“I have to keep training and working on form,” Douglas said. “I also have to keep running hard if I want to do well at regionals.”

Tony Stewart was another of the Cyclones to place in two events.

“In the discus, me and Jamal [Salahuddin] kept pushing each other,” Stewart said. “I was 13th going in [to the last throw] and ended up in sixth, and Jamal was third. We kept getting behind each other, and Jamal was at fifth place and moved up to third.”

Stewart found a new way to help enhance his performance.

“Last week I cut my hair into a mullet,” Stewart said. “That is what gave me the power to have a better throw — the mullet power.”

On his longest discus throw, Stewart heard the applause of fans who liked his new hairstyle.

“Before I threw, I was so pumped up when I heard a fan yell, ‘Use the mullet.’ I think that it was Tyson,” Stewart said. “Also, I was told that I have the best grunt in the whole competition.”

Lynn said a few athletes regionally qualified at this meet.

“Stewart in the discus, Daniel Kaczmarczyk in the triple jump and [Justin] Sherman in the 400-meter hurdles all qualified for regionals,” Lynn said. “Douglas and Salahuddin were already in the regionals, but moved up. And Jared Graham is real close in the 400[-meter run].”

The next meet for the track and field team is in two weeks at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta.