Last weekend, the Iowa State men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to the Sunshine State to compete at the annual Florida Relays in Gainesville.

Successfully completing their first outdoor competition, the Cyclone teams continue to focus on logging faster times, longer leaps, further throws and higher heights before the outdoor Big 12 conference meet in mid-May.

Women’s Coach Dick Lee said the outdoor opener went well, and the women hope to build on the momentum from a strong indoor season.

“Being our first outdoor meet of the season, we were pleased with the performance we had,” he said.

The ISU throwers heaved the necessary distances to earn recognition in the discus and shot. Their showings were highlights of the meet.

Women’s All-American thrower Kris Curnyn was the only Cyclone who captured a title. She dished for a first-place finish in the discus. Her freshman teammate, Lisa Griebel, qualified provisionally in the shot put with a second-place toss, with Curnyn right behind her in third.

For the men, All-American Jamie Beyer returned from injury and showed he can still give significant contributions to the Cyclone cause. He placed second in the invitational and open discus.

Men’s Coach Steve Lynn said, “It’s good to see him get back out there and going again.”

On Friday, freshman Joey Brunkhorst sailed over the 6-7 bar to finish sixth in the high jump. The men’s 4×100 relay, featuring All-Americans Quinn Harris and Randy Thompson, as well as Adrian Dunbar and Chris Wycoff, registered a 40.87 for third place.

Jacob Overman, Matt Williams, David Lichoro and Kevin Farrow combined mile-efforts to grab third in the 4×1600, clocking 17:08.94.

On the women’s side, Katarina Svennson and Barbara Szlendakova wrapped up runner-up finishes. Svennson engineered a 1:00.69 in the 400-meter hurdles, while Szlendakova soared 19-6 1/4 in the long jump for hers.

The women’s 4×100 meter shuttle team also finished second with a time of 58.51, while the 4×400 meter relay finished fourth with a time of 3:52.09.

The 4×1600, featuring Laurie Meythaler, Alienor Gilchrist, Amber Garrett and Stacey Armstrong bronzed a third place, posting a time of 20:09.64.

Saturday, ISU’s Thompson dashed 24.93 in the 200-meter for seventh and had an eighth place in the 100-meter. Newcomer Philemon Too took fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a 9:07.24.

The men’s 4×800, which consisted of runners Overman, Williams, Brian Smith and Troy Weiland, ran a third-place race in 7:39.88.

Cyclones Kelly Cizek and Leah Elbert flew 5-6 to make third and seventh places in the high jump. The women’s 4×800 made up of Erin Bresnan, Joanne Roepke, Anna Hauskins and Gilchrist crossed the line second in 8:56.51.

In addition, two Cyclone distance runners went to the Pacific coast to compete at Stanford.

Saul Lempirikany and Sydney Pounds went west to foot races against top-notch competitors. Lempirikany hauled in the 10,000-meter run, which is a little over six miles. He finished fourth to qualify for the outdoor national competition in early June. His time is the fourth fastest time in the nation.

“Saul has marked himself as one of the top distance runners in the nation,” Lynn said.

As far as goals for the season, Lee said the women hope to improve each week.

“There are six weeks ’til conference, and hopefully mostly good things are going to happen to us,” he said.