After a trip north to Minnesota for the Roy Griak Invitational, the ISU men’s and women’s cross country teams return home to Ames to host the ISU Memorial.

And a nice a homecoming it will be.

The Cyclones raced in one of their toughest meets of the season last weekend and saw firsthand what they need to work on.

Competing against 30 Division I schools on the men’s side and 26 in the women’s race — including Big 12 teams from Baylor, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas Tech — the Cyclone men finished 25th while the women took home a 26th-place showing. Only one ISU runner — man or woman — placed inside the top 100.

“We really struggled and part of it was we didn’t get out and be competitive and we got left behind,” said men’s coach Corey Ihmels. “We’re ready to run better then we did [last weekend] and we’re training to do better then we did.

“It’s frustrating, and they’re frustrated as well. Another day, another race, and we have to put that one behind us and move ahead.”

The one runner inside the century mark was Dan Taylor, who placed 49th. Taylor ran the 8,000 meter course in 25:11.

“Dan Taylor did a good job,” Ihmels said. “He got out and competed and did what he needed to do, but nobody else followed suit.”

Women’s coach Dick Lee called Saturday’s meet an “aberration” and said he expects a better showing this time around.

“We’ll compete better than we did last Saturday,” Lee said. “[The team] has a good attitude about it. If we were waiting a couple weeks [to run our next meet] it would be harder to get refocused and ready to get back out there.”

This week, however, is a different story, as the familiar surroundings of home welcome the Cyclones.

“It’s always nice to get back home — we have one of the nicest courses in the country and it’s always nice to get back on it and use the facilities,” Ihmels said. “Hopefully, we can have a little better result.”

Drake, Graceland, Northern Iowa and Upper Iowa will compete alongside Iowa State, while Minnesota will field just a women’s team. The women’s race kicks off the evening at 5:30 p.m. with the men’s following at 6 p.m. Both races will be 4 kilometers, shorter than last weekend’s run.

“It’s a good speed workout,” said women’s coach Dick Lee. “[The shorter race] allows us to do a little more work during the week and to use this as a speed session against some other teams.”

The return home will be extra sweet for Jessica Huff, who will be making both her home debut for this season and her career finale.

Huff, a senior, sat out the ISU Invitational last month with a foot injury.

The Memorial is her final chance to run at home as a Cyclone.

“I’m excited — I have friends and family who will be here to watch me,” Huff said. “This will be a great race.”

The Memorial will also be a chance for Huff and her teammates to redeem themselves after last weekend.

Huff led ISU with a 113th-place finish, a showing that was not up to her standards. Last year, Huff finished 30th at the Roy Griak Invitational but couldn’t duplicate that showing.

“I’m a little embarrassed from last weekend individually,” Huff said. “I’m ready to redeem myself.”

Huff says the team has already made improvements.

“We got back together and had a nice, long run and I could tell a difference in our pace,” she said. “We wanted to go farther and faster.”