On Saturday, track athletes from across the country will be in Ames looking to punch their tickets to Fayetteville, Ark. Iowa State will be hosting the NCAA Qualifier meet all day Saturday at the Lied Recreation Center.

Even though the meet is called the NCAA Qualifier meet, it is not the only chance for athletes to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Performances have been recorded throughout the season, and the top performers will be invited to the national meet. This weekend is the final chance for athletes to post qualifying performances.

“The only reason [some teams] are coming is to have fast performances for NCAA qualification,” men’s coach Steve Lynn said. With so many borderline NCAA qualifiers on hand, the competition will be strong.

“That’s the caliber of people we have coming in,” Lynn said. “This will be the best meet in the nation this week by far.”

The NCAA championships will be in Fayetteville on March 14 and 15.

The Iowa State women’s team will only have about a dozen athletes competing, coach Dick Lee said. Gina Curtis-Rickert has already qualified for the NCAA championships in the high jump, and Susan Sherman has qualified in the weight throw. Lee said Curtis-Rickert will not jump in this weekend’s meet, but Sherman will participate “just as a practice.”

The women do not have many athletes still trying to qualify for nationals. “Probably the only real possibility would be Jessica Huff in the mile,” Lee said.

To automatically qualify for the national meet, Huff needs a mile time of 4:42.60. A time of 4:48.40 or better will receive consideration as a provisional qualifying time.

Huff’s best mile time this year is 4:52.37, which she posted last week at the Big 12 championships. In 2001, she ran a 4:49.30. She redshirted last year.

Lee said that he does not have firm expectations or goals for the rest of his team, especially coming off the Big 12 championships.

The ISU men will try to rebound from a disappointing last place finish at the Big 12 championships. Most of the men will compete, even though not many of them are in the hunt for the national meet, Lynn said.

Lynn said he expects strong performances from Gil Ridenour in the high jump, Chris Francois and Peter Hess in the mile and Kristjan Hunter in the 3000 meter run and the 4×400 meter relay.

The only member of the men’s team who has qualified for nationals so far is Rocky Moore in the shot put, Lynn said. However, he will be in action on Saturday.