The Cyclone men’s and women’s track teams are gearing up for their biggest weekend of the season thus far – the Big 12 Indoor Championships. While neither team is expecting a conference title, the Cyclones have many chances for individual crowns.

On the women’s side, head coach Dick Lee predicts a conference title race between Texas, Kansas State and Nebraska. But the rest of the pack seems tight.

“There will be a group of teams fighting for the next four,” he said.

Lee said Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa State all have chances of being there.

“It just depends on which teams puts a good meet together,” he said. “All we can control is how we do.”

The Cyclones will also be in contention for numerous individual titles. Leading the way will be All-American seniors Gina Curtis, Lisa Griebel and Barbara Szlendakova.

Curtis enters the meet as the defending Big 12 high jump champion and boasts the best performance coming into the meet.

“She’s ranked first,” Lee said.

But rankings don’t automatically mean a win.

“She won the meet last year ranked third or fourth,” he added.

Griebel is the defending Big 12 shotput champion and will be looking to add another conference title to her credentials. She heads into competition ranked third behind two Kansas State shotputters, but Lee isn’t worried.

“My money’s on Lisa,” he said. “She performs very well in big meets.”

Szlendakova is ranked first in the long jump and will also compete in the heptathalon.

Other Cyclone hopefuls include freshman Susan Sherman who is the top-ranked competitor in the weight throw, and sprinter Sheba Clarke in the 60-meter dash.

On the men’s side, head coach Steve Lynn predicts a fighting battle for the Cyclones.

“We’re picked to finish at the bottom,” he said. “We’re going to fight to avoid that situation. The biggest thing is to go over and have our best performance of the year.”

Leading the Cyclones into the weekend is sophomore Daniel Kaczmarczyk. The 2001 Big 12 Indoor Freshman of the Year is the defending long jump champion, although not the favorite this year.

“He’s going to be fighting to win,” Lynn said.

Other jumpers include freshman Tony Douglas in the long jump and senior Tunji Giwa in the high jump.

“Tony’s capable of big jumps. And Tunji is a veteran of placing. I expect him to give a big effort,” Lynn said.

Rounding out field-event hopefuls are sophomores Ryan Wilson in the pole vault, Andy Kohler in the high jump and Rocky Moore in the shotput.

In the running events, freshman Nik Moser will compete in the 400-meter dash and senior Ryan Nicholson in the 600-meter run. Lynn feels both have a chance of making finals.

Junior Troy Wieland will be competing for a title in the 1,000-meter run, and Lynn said Weiland “is poised to have his best year ever.”

But as far as the championships go, Lynn’s plan is simple.

“We’re going to have everybody compete hard and score points for the team. If you place at the top of the Big 12, you’re some of the top in the country,” he said.