DES MOINES — The ISU track teams were led by their field events this weekend at the Drake Relays.

Both the men and the women found many of their top finishes in the jumps and weight events. Iowa State’s top finish overall came from Gina Rickert, who defended her title in the high jump, clearing 6-0.

Susan Sherman turned in the next-best performance for the women, taking third in the discus with a throw of 159-2. Former Council Bluffs prep Abby Emsick, who now attends Kansas, won the event by throwing 171-8.

The weather was beautiful for the meet, but it was not necessarily ideal for throwing the discus.

“[Sherman’s] distance wasn’t great, but the weather conditions played a role. It depends on if you catch a good wind or not,” women’s coach Dick Lee said.

Sherman also performed well in the shot put, placing seventh out of 23 competitors with a throw of 46-6. Aubrey Martin of Western Illinois won the shot put with a throw of 51-2 3/4.

Jessica Huff was the top individual finisher for Iowa State in a running event. She placed sixth in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:28.16, her second-best time of the season. Huff ran with the leaders for much of the race, but was unable to maintain their pace in the final lap. Sara Bei of Stanford won in 4:20.88.

“We thought she had a chance to challenge for a top-three spot,” Lee said. “She had a busy week and I think that showed in the last 300 meters of the race.”

Cara Van Eck, Ursula Peterson, Stephanie Suntken and Huff comprised the women’s distance medley relay team, which took fourth out of 18 teams in 11:37.79. The Cyclones finished slightly ahead of rival Iowa, which took fifth with 11:39.02. Stanford won the distance medley, setting a Drake Relays record of 11:03.59.

Lee said the distance medley team ran like he hoped they would.

“That was four solid performances, although no real breakthroughs,” he said.

In the 100-meter hurdles, Rebecca Williams ran well for Iowa State, making the finals and placing eighth in 14.36 seconds. Lee said all of the finalists had slower times than usual. Winner Perdita Felicien of Illinois had a time of 13.43, almost half a second slower than her normal pace.

“Take four-tenths of a second off of Rebecca’s performance, and she would be very happy with it,” he said.

The men’s top three places all came in the weight events. Rocky Moore led the way, placing third in the shot put with a heave of 58-6 3/4.

Russ Bell of Missouri won the shot put with a throw of 60 1/2.

“I thought Rocky really got back on track in the shot put,” men’s coach Steve Lynn said. “He’s never had any success at Drake before now, and he goes out and gets third. That was a real positive.”

In the javelin, Matt Murdock continued his string of strong showings, placing fourth out of 26 competitors with a throw of 208-2. Bill Neumann of Iowa won with a throw of 238-11.

Jamal Salahuddin took seventh place in the discus with a throw of 172-9. Despite beating quality competitors such as Missouri’s Christian Cantwell, Salahuddin was not pleased with his performance.

“If I would have had the right positions, I would have [set a personal record] and maybe placed fourth or third,” he said. “I’m a perfectionist, so I’m a little upset.”

Like Lee, Salahuddin and Lynn both mentioned the weather as a factor in the discus.

“It was nice weather, but it wasn’t a good wind,” Salahuddin said. “It was a lefty’s wind.”

“It would be kind of like running the sprints into a headwind,” Lynn said.

In the long jump, Daniel Kaczmarczyk continued his return to top form, placing eighth with a jump of 24-7.

“[He] is really close. His big jumps seem to be fouls right now,” Lynn said. “He had a couple jumps this past week that were high 25-footers.”

In the preliminary heats of the 4×400-meter relay, the team of Ryan Boyington, Jared Graham, James Lopes and Jerod Torrey ran 3:11.41. That time was enough to qualify them for the NCAA Regional meet, but the competition at Drake was so strong that the squad did not qualify for the finals.

The next action for the teams will be next weekend in Iowa City. Practices over the next two weeks will be somewhat affected by dead week and finals week.

“The guys are here when they can be here,” Lynn said. “If they have to go to a class, that’s where they go.”