Along with a blizzard, some of the top track athletes in the nation blew into town last weekend for the Iowa State Classic track meet.

In one case, the competitors were no match for what awaited them in Ames. Iowa State’s Gina Curtis-Rickert continued her streak of excellence in the high jump, clearing 6-3 1/2.

Curtis-Rickert now has the highest jump this year in the NCAA. She matched the Lied Recreation Center record, most recently achieved by Karol Damon at the 2001 Classic.

Iowa State’s Susan Sherman also had a strong meet. In the weight throw, her distance of 59-2 3/4 was good enough for second place. She was under 2 feet from provisionally qualifying for the NCAA championships.

This was the first Iowa State Classic for freshman Sarah Klein, and it made an impression on her.

“I was in awe of a lot of the athletes,” she said. But that did not prevent her from placing third in the 600-yard run.

“Going into the 600, my goal was to better my time from last time, and I did,” she said.

Her time of 1:23.41 bettered her previous best by nearly a second, and would have set the meet record had two other runners not finished ahead of her.

Fellow freshman Rebecca Williams nabbed two top-six finishes. Her time of 8.55 in the 60 meter hurdles earned third place, and she took sixth in the 200 meter dash in 24.73.

Cyclone Sheba Clarke took home another victory for Iowa State, running unattached. She crossed the finish line first in the 60-meter dash in a time of 7.49.

The Cyclone men continued to see improvement, although they did not win any events.

“We have a bunch of guys doing some good things,” men’s coach Steve Lynn said. “We need some guys doing some great things.”

Kendall Fogle found some unlikely momentum midweek, as he won the Department of Residence’s chair-throw contest in honor of Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight’s visit for Wednesday’s game. Building on that momentum, he set a personal best in the weight throw with a distance of 57-6 1/4, placing 11th.

“Kendall had his best meet ever,” Lynn said.

The top finish for the men was achieved by Ryan Boyington. Running in the 600-yard run, he took fifth in a time of 1:11.88.

The 800-meter run featured some of the top competition within the already competitive meet. The top 10 finishers in that race all provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships by running 1:50.20 or faster.

Iowa State’s top finisher in the 800 was Abraham Rotich, who took 29th with a time of 1:53.52. There were 76 entrants in the 800.

The shot put did not have quite as many contestants, but its top competitors were equally impressive. Missouri’s Christian Cantwell, the top college thrower in the nation this year, won with a throw of 67-1 1/2, resetting the meet record he already held. Iowa State’s Rocky Moore snagged sixth place, throwing 56-3 3/4.

For Lynn, the highlight of the meet was the continued development of his young athletes.

“We wanted to have some season bests throughout, and we did,” he said. “We had several freshmen that really competed well.”