The epitome of the indoor track season will conclude this weekend in Arkansas at the NCAA Championships with five Cyclone athletes getting the chance to compete for All-American status and a national title.

For the women, senior Gina Curtis will compete in the high jump, senior Lisa Griebel in the shot-put, senior Barbara Szlendakova in the long jump and senior Lenka Kalabova in the 800 meter run.

In the men’s competition, sophomore Daniel Kaczmarczyk will compete in the long jump.

Women’s head coach Dick Lee said he is optimistic for the weekend.

“We’re excited to take four,” he said.

All-American Senior Gina Curtis heads into this weekend ranked first in the high jump. However, Lee feels the meet is “wide open.”

“Gina’s a great competitor,” he said. “It helps she was there last year and she’s familiar with the surroundings – she’ll be comfortable.”

Curtis has set her own goals for the weekend.

“My first goal for nationals is to clear the heights on the first attempt,” she said. “That usually differentiates between first place or sixth … Of course, the ultimate goal is to win it, but coming in ranked first, that sometimes doesn’t happen. But you still always hope for it.”

Curtis jumped 6 feet last year at nationals to earn a sixth-place finish, but wants to improve on that this year.

“I would walk out of the meet happy if I cleared all my heights on the first attempt and had a personal-best jump of 6’2,” she said.

Jumps coach Ron McEachran feels Curtis will perform solidly at nationals.

“Gina will do well. I see no reason why she shouldn’t,” McEachran said. “We’ll keep jumping heights until they tell us to sit down.”

Griebel is ranked 11th in the shot-put heading into the weekend.

“Lisa has a great shot at being an All-American,” Lee said.

The top eight finishers in nationals are considered All-Americans.

“It’s a very competitive field,” Lee said. “But she usually gets her best throws in the big meets.”

Griebel said her goal for the weekend is also to be an All-American, a title she already wears from last year.

“The competition is up for grabs,” Griebel said. “It just depends on who’s on.”

Lee said Kalabova will have one of the toughest fields to compete against in the 800 meters.

“The 800 is one of the deepest events,” he said. “Our goal is to get to finals, but she has to run her finals race in the preliminaries just to make it.”

Although this will be Kalabova’s first time at nationals, Lee feels it won’t affect her performance.

“She’s been in big meets before,” he said. “She won’t feel intimidated.”

Szlendakova squeezed her way into national competition, finding herself 15th on a list that only takes 15. However, McEachran feels she has a shot at making the finals.

“This is her first time at nationals where she can compete in the long jump without competing in a lot of events before that,” McEachran said. “She could do amazing things. Once you get past the top two or three finishers, there is very little difference between the rest.”

The lone Cyclone men’s competitor will be Kaczmarczyk in the long jump, and McEachran feels he has earned his right to be there.

“Daniel qualified last year and was almost an All-American,” McEachran said. “He is legitimately one of the best jumpers in the United States.”

Although Kaczmarczyk has been bothered by a bruised heel, it is not on his jumping foot and should not affect him this weekend, McEachran said.

He hopes Kaczmarczyk will have a chance to score points at nationals and improve on his jumps.

“There’s always room for improvement,” he said. “We’re just happy he’s getting a chance to jump again in this meet.”

McEachran said he’s proud of all of the athletes.

“When you get to this point, it is a very select group; everybody is good,” he said.