The ISU men’s and women’s indoor track season will kick off this Friday as both teams will compete in the Cyclone Holiday Track and Field Classic at the Lied Recreation Center.

The event will start at 2 p.m.

Men’s head coach Steve Lynn said most of the team has been running on their own since August and together as a team since September.

“This meet is always a fun thing for the kids to get an opportunity to compete in the collegiate level,” Lynn said. “It gives them a chance to see where they are and it will be a test for them. We’ll have some people look real good and we’ll have some people that’ll look not good at all.”

In last year’s meet, Rocky Moore took first in the shot put event by tossing a throw of 56 feet, 2 inches. In the pole vault event, Ryan Wilson picked up a first-place finish as he reached 15 feet, 1.25 inches. Daniel Kaczmarczyk easily won the long jump competition with a leap of 23 feet, 10 inches.

“Daniel has been working on some different things. He was injured at the end of the season last year. He definitely wants to get this meet in, especially the field events,” Lynn said. “I’m anxious to see Tony Douglas in the horizontal jumps. He had a good freshman year last season but was hurt in the Big 12 indoor meet and didn’t compete outdoors. Tony will be a 25-foot long-jumper this year and will be a good triple jumper this year. We’re anxious to see how he does.”

Lynn is looking forward to watching shot put thrower Jamal Salahuddin, a Division I transfer from Bowling Green University.

“He and Rocky Moore will give us a good one-two punch in the throws. We got some young guys in the sprints and hurdles,” Lynn said. “Jared Graham is a freshman that has a chance to do some things. I’ve seen a lot of development from Daniel Zelik in the high hurdles. He’s looking really good. Jerod Torrey has had an outstanding fall.”

Lynn said that some of the middle distance runners will be running the two-mile run, something that hasn’t happened both indoors and outdoors since 1987. He also mentioned that he’s looking for improvement from the team at every meet.

“As each individual gets better, then we’re going to get better as a team. We lost the two main guys from last year [Mike Mwangong and Joey Brunkhorst]. The strength of our team this year could vary from week to week. Our conference is absolutely loaded. I expect us to go out and compete hard this year.”

On the women’s side, ISU head women’s track coach Dick Lee is expecting quite a mix in Friday’s meet.

“We’ll have some kids that are in very good shape right now that will step and perform at a high level. We got some young kids that are competing in their first collegiate competition,” Lee said. “Others will be more nervous than they should be. This meet will give us an idea on where we’re at this time of year.”

Gina Curtis-Rickert paced the Cyclones in last year’s meet. During the meet, she qualified for the NCAA championships in the high jump with a leap of 6-1 1/2. That leap became an ISU record. Susan Sherman finished first in both the shot put and weight throw. Carey Morris and Davonna Carr also performed well in the meet. Morris placed first in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:17.17 while Carr was second in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 7.75 inches.

“Gina Curtis-Rickert will be back for us and she’s one of the top returning high jumpers in the country. [Susan] Sherman is one of the top throwers in the conference,” Lee said. “Adrianne Anderson will be back for us this season and is in great shape. Sheba Clark is one of the top returning sprinters in the conference.”

Lee said that he would like to see the team finish in the upper half of a tough Big 12 conference.

After the Holiday Classic, both teams will perform at home for the ISU Open on Jan. 24—25.