Even though the Iowa State women’s track squad only managed one point at the NCAA Outdoor Track Meet, it was a success in other respects.

The biggest surprise for the Cyclones was freshman heptathlete Barbara Szlendakova. The freshman had the 20th highest mark in the nation during the regular season. Because of a couple of athletes not participating, she received an provincial qualifying mark of 18th in the 19 competitor field.

“I was just happy to make it,” Szlendakova said. “I had nothing to lose; I just hoped I would finish higher than 18th.”

Not only did she do better than 18th, but she just missed becoming an All-American, amassing 5139 points to finish 10th. The Czech Republic native was sitting in ninth after the first day of competition. Of the top 10 placers, she was the only freshman, with Akron’s Christi Smith being the only sophomore, placing ninth.

“(Barbara) did just did a tremendous job for being just a freshman,” Sprinters Coach Scott Roberts said. “I think when she first got here she was a little overwhelmed by not winning at the Division I level. She really matured a lot through the season by growing mentally. She still has a long way to go, but what she did this year was just phenomenal.”

Szlendakova was a four-time state champion her senior year, claiming three individual championships and anchoring a relay for Andrew High School. She came to Andrew, population of 319, through the International Education Forum.

“Once I got to Iowa State I got really homesick, because I didn’t have a roommate and I was really lonely,” Szlendakova said. “I thought about leaving, but then I got a roommate and started to feel more a part of the team — and now I really like it here.”

In her first heptathalon of the season she surpassed 5,000 points, smashing the previous ISU record. The old record was held by Kathy Hank with 4,622. During Szlendakova’s sophomore year in high school, she had a 5,210 point heptathalon.

At ISU, not only has she set the heptathalon mark, but she ran on the indoor 4×300, the outdoor shuttle hurdle and 4×100 relay teams that set new school records. She has also long jumped, high jumped and run the pentathlon, where she earned all-conference honors.

“It is extremely rare for a freshman to do this well in muti-events, and doubly rare to do this well in the heptathalon,” Jumpers Coach Ron McEachran said. “We recruited her because we knew she was a great athlete, but she has performed even better than we expected.”

At 5-10 with a slender build, Szlendakova struggled a bit in the throwing events, but she did come up with a 33-10 shot put toss at the NCAA after posting a 34-6 heave at the Big 12 meet. That was the first time she had surpassed the 30 foot mark. Coming from a predominantly sprinting back round, she had a difficult time running the 800 during the heptathalon competition.

“She just started the heptathalon in January,” McEachran said. “She is totally untapped, and she has the potential to improve in every event.”

At the NCAA meet she struggled in the high jump, which is traditionally strong for her. She only cleared 5-3 3/4, when she had been consistently going around 5-8.

After scratching on her first two attempts in the long jump she popped of a leap of 19-8 1/4. She had faced the same predicament at the Drake Relays, and she only came up with a 17-10 effort.

“I would like to focus on just one or two events next year, but that is up to Coach (Steve Lee),” Szlendakova said. “I know I can improve, because if I was already at my best I wouldn’t want to keep going.”

Trina Radske became an All-American for the third time. The senior finished eighth in the long jump with a leap of 20-1 1/2. Her previous two All-American performances came indoors. She had surpassed the 21 foot mark earlier this season.

“The jumpers were facing really difficult conditions,” McEachran said. “The wind was blowing between 7 and 10 miles per hour, but it was gusting up to 20. They had to adjust their approaches, which made it tough.”

All-American Kris Curnyn competed in both the hammer throw and the shot put. Curnyn’s goal going into the meet was to advance to the finals of the hammer, which is exactly what she did. In her last collegiate meet she had a throw of 190-1 to finish ninth, missing becoming an All-American for a second time by just one place. In the shot competition she finished 17th with a heave of 49-3/4.

Freshman Lisa Griebel also contended in the shot, placing 14th with a toss of 51-4 1/4. She was the top freshman competitor.

All-American Saul Lempirikany was unable to finish the men’s 10,000-meter race due to a side-stitch.