The ISU women sprinters combined with the field events to lead the Cyclones this weekend at the Iowa State Track and Field Classic.

The Classic brought teams from all over the United States with eight athletes on the women’s side earning automatic berths in the NCAA Nationals and 37 qualifying provisionally.

For the Cyclones, junior Sheba Clarke led the way placing fourth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7 minutes, 45 seconds.

Clarke also placed 11th in the 200-meter dash clocking in at 24.92.

“I can’t complain,” Clarke said of her finishes. “I’ve improved a lot since last week, but I was a little disappointed in my start.”

Clarke was one-tenth of a second away from qualifying provisionally for Nationals in the 60-meter dash.

“I’m ahead of where I was last year, so the outlook of the rest of the indoor season is promising,” she said.

Freshman Keosha Sanders and senior All-American Barbara Szlendakova placed ninth and 10th respectively in the 60-meter hurdles, clocking 8.77 and 8.78.

Szlendakova also finished second in the long jump, jumping 20-2 1/4. The leap was a NCAA provisional qualifier, yet Szlendakova remained critical.

“It was okay, nothing special,” she said.

Instead, Szlendakova chose to remain focused on what lies ahead for her team.

“This meet is supposed to prepare us for the Big 12 meet,” she said. “And everybody is doing well. That’s the important thing, the team.”

Senior All-Americans Lisa Griebel and Gina Curtis took second in the shot put and high jump.

Curtis’s jump of 5-9 3/4 was below her school record jump of 6, but head coach Dick Lee remained optimistic.

“Gina had an okay day jumping,” he said. “But when you compete at the level she does, you can’t be set that high all of the time.”

Griebel, entering the shotput finals as the leader, placed second with her throw of 53-6 1/4.

“I was disappointed I couldn’t respond on the last throw,” Griebel said. “But I still did good. I was ranked third coming in to the meet, and I got second.”

Griebel has already qualified for the NCAA Championships in the shotput.

The only first place finish for the Cyclones came from sophomore Susan Sherman who won the weight throw with a toss of 60-10 1/2.

Lee also was impressed with the finish of the 4×400 team comprised of Clarke, Stephanie Suntken, Szlendakova and Lenka Kalabova. Their time of 3:48.23 earned 10th place.

“This was a strong field, and they ran their best race of the year,” Lee said.

Despite the lack of first place finishers, the coach remained positive.

“We had some good things happen, and we didn’t have some things happen, no championships where we had hoped,” he said.

“That’s what happens in track and field, you’re not guaranteed winning every time.”

Next up for the Cyclones is the Big 12 meet in two weeks.

“We need to see continued improvements over the next two weeks,” Lee said. “Conference is when the shoes need to be tied on tight and ready to go.”