The ISU men’s and women’s cross country teams will take different approaches when they compete in the NCAA Regional meet Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.

A full women’s squad will be running, but men’s head coach Corey Ihmels plans to take only three runners to compete. Ihmels is taking senior Chris Francois, sophomore Dan Taylor and freshman Kyle Rasmussen for the final meet of the season.

“I didn’t think we had any other guys who were ready to run the regional meet,” Ihmels said. “I don’t think we proved throughout the season that we can be competitive.

“[Not taking a full team] is an awakening for the group, and it tells them that I’m not going to take a team to regionals unless they’re ready. Right now, I’m not seeing that except for those three guys.”

Iowa State’s three hottest runners are traveling to the regional meet, and all are coming off solid showings at the Big 12 Conference meet Oct. 31.

Taylor led the Cyclones at that meet with a 28th place showing out of the 91 runners competing. Francois finished 51st, second for Iowa State. Rasmussen came in 61st, earning his trip to Stillwater with a consistent race.

“Those three guys have been competitive the last few times out and have stepped it up like they’ve needed to,” Ihmels said. “I feel that they’re the ones getting the job done at this point.”

The top two teams from each race will qualify automatically for nationals, along with the top three individual finishers who are not already on a qualifying team.

There will also be at-large selections for the national meet, both for teams and individuals.

The ISU women come in with experience on their side. Senior Jessica Huff qualified for nationals last year and is seeking to earn a return trip this weekend. This could be, however, her final race as a Cyclone.

“[Jessica] is one that has improved a ton over her years at Iowa State,” women’s head coach Dick Lee said of his senior leader. “She’s worked very hard. She is one that I never doubt that when the gun goes off, she’s going to give her best effort.”

As for the rest of the team, the Cyclones finally plan to have a full squad healthy for the final meet of the season. After illness has hampered Iowa State in the last two meets, all seven runners are healthy and ready to race, Lee said.

Senior Monica Erickson and freshman Lindsey Nye are sitting the race out because of their continued battles with illness. Lee is cautiously optimistic about his runner’s chances.

“We’ve been so up and down [this year]; it’s hard [to judge where we are],” Lee said. “We’re going in without pressure on us.

“[Huff] still has a shot at qualifying [for nationals]. For everyone else, we’re just looking for continued improvement. We don’t have a shot to be one of the top two teams; that’s not realistic with how we’ve raced this year. Our No. 1 goal is to get seven kids to the finish line after what happened at the conference meet.”

Ihmels also thinks that his runners have a chance to prolong their season by earning a trip to nationals.

“Dan has an outside chance to be in the mix [for nationals],” Ihmels said.

“He’s on the outside fringes of being an automatic qualifier. If Chris is on his game, he’s got an outside chance [of advancing as well]. He’s talented enough to do it.”