The Cyclone men’s and women’s cross country teams have had more than two weeks to prepare for this meet, with the frustrations of poor individual showings at the NCAA Pre-Meet hanging over them.

In short, Iowa State is ready for the Big 12 Championships, which begin 11 a.m. Friday in Austin, Texas.

Members of both squads said they expect big things for the Big 12 Championships.

“The main thing that I would like to see is improvement on what we previously have done,” said men’s coach Corey Ihmels. “We need a good performance from our top seven to eight guys. I would like for this team to finish in the top five.”

The women’s team, coached by Dick Lee, thinks illness may still be a factor.

“Hopefully, we are healthier than we were,” Lee said. “Not all three girls [who were ill at the NCAA Pre-Meet] — Jessica Huff, Monica Erickson and Lindsey Nye — are at 100 percent.

“Jess and Lindsey are close to 100 percent, while Monica is about 80 to 90 percent. Hopefully Erickson will be back to 100 percent by [NCAA Regionals Nov. 15].”

Lee said although the women’s team is getting healthier, it will be missing its most consistent runner — Krysta Metz — due to a family emergency.

Lee also said having illnesses at the last few meets can be a blessing in disguise.

“Since we didn’t have all of our runners [at the last few meets], no one is expecting us to be a factor in this race either,” Lee said. “We might be able to surprise some people.”

Ihmels and Lee both believe they will see individual accomplishments at the Big 12 meet.

“I think that [Jessica Huff] will come in and surprise some people,” Lee said. “She has been running really well and she can be a top-10 to

-15 finisher.”

Ihmels also said he expects some individuals to lead the Cyclones at the conference meet.

“I think that Chris [Francois] and Dan [Taylor] will get out and run well — come out and have their best race,” Ihmels said.

Since the Cyclone runners have competed against most of the Big 12 teams in other races, they know what to expect.

“Realistically, we are not going to be able to compete with the top teams.” Lee said. “We are realistic and are setting our sights on Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas.”

Ihmels also knows what to look for.

“Colorado is the team to beat,” Ihmels said. “There are a lot of quality teams in the mix which will lead to a great finish. Our race has to be on task the whole time and run to the best of our ability in the competitive Big 12. We keep looking ahead and want to be one of the better teams in the Big 12.”

With the season getting close to an end, both squads see their work is not finished.

“We keep seeing continual improvement,” Lee said. “We hope to improve from this meet to regionals.”

Ihmels said his runners are also trying to have a strong finish before the indoor track season.

“The main thing is that we want to gain momentum to close out the year,” Ihmels said. “We want to get ready for the track season.”

Both coaches see positive points to the season.

“We had an up and down year,” Ihmels said. “What I will take away from this year is that we had good preparation but we have to build on that … We had injuries, were young and need to find a leader.”

Lee said, given the circumstances, he was satisfied with his team’s efforts.

“They just hung in there with different people getting sick,” Lee said. “We have not had one meet with our top seven runners in a race at the same time. Hopefully at regionals, we will have everyone back.”