The ISU men’s and women’s indoor track teams finished strong at the ISU Open this past weekend, producing six first-place finishes including a new meet record.

The women’s distance medley relay team, consisting of senior Cara Van Eck, junior Ursula Peterson, freshman Jenny Mockler and senior Jessica Huff, placed first with a time of 12:03.47, earning them an ISU Open meet record.

“I was pretty excited when I found out that we had broken the record,” Peterson said. “One of my goals for the season was to break some kind of record.”

Peterson said she had never run the event before but hopes to run it again. She ran her 400-meter split in 56.7 seconds, a personal record for her college career.

“Ursula ran really aggressively,” sprint coach Scott Roberts said. “Breaking the meet record was a good confidence builder. We often don’t run the distance medley this early in the season and it’s good to have this success right away.”

Other first place finishes in the women’s races included freshman Rebecca Williams in the 60-meter hurdles and freshman Sarah Klein in the 600-yard run.

“Rebecca has been improving every week,” Roberts said. “She is confident that she can get it done.”

Williams finished her first collegiate 60-meter hurdle race in a time of 8.67 seconds. She also placed second in the 200-meter dash. “She is a tremendous competitor,” Roberts said. “She doesn’t get rattled.”

Competing as a freshman against a competitive field also failed to rattle Klein in the 600-meter. Klein’s time was 1:24.64, earning her a spot in the top five times recorded this year for the Big 12.

The Cyclone women also pulled down two first place finishes in the field events. All-American Gina Curtis-Rickert cleared six feet in the high jump and senior Susan Sherman took home top honors in the weight throw as well as placing second in the shot put.

The Cyclone men also fared well. Sophomore Rocky Moore led the team with a first place finish in the shot put and earning a provisional spot at the NCAA Championships.

Head coach Steve Lynn said that a provisional spot means that Moore will be considered for the national meet. He must finish within the top 12 to 16 scores for the indoor season to make it.

“Rocky has many physical attributes such as size and quickness that make him a standout athlete,” Lynn said. “He matured a lot in the past year.”

Lynn said that Moore is tougher mentally this year. In the past, Lynn said, if Moore had a few bad throws he would not respond well on his final throws. Moore proved that he could overcome this obstacle when he threw his personal best in the shot put after faulting on his first throw.

The ISU men’s 4 x 400 meter relay team narrowly missed a first- place finish. The team, comprised of Ryan Boyington, Tom Ries, Andy Hadden and Jared Graham, lost by only two-tenths of a second with a time of 3:16.95. “We won the fast heat and thought that we had won the race,” Lynn said. The team that won the race was in a different heat and finished with a better time.”

The small size of the indoor track can influence the results of some races in which many heats must be run in order to allow all of the athletes to compete. Race times are generally slower than they would be on an outdoor track and sometimes two teams that should be racing each other end up in different heats, Lynn said.

The Cyclones will travel to Northern Iowa next weekend for the Panther Open. Lynn said that this upcoming meet will be a good gauge of figuring out where the team is at.

“Times will be different than last weekend’s meet,” Lynn said. “They won’t be as fast and that can be mentally tough sometimes.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams will compete at Northern Iowa.