With springtime comes the outdoor track season, and for Iowa State Head Track Coach Steve Lynn, the outdoor track season should hold a lot of excitement for the Cyclones.

Despite losing All-American/Olympian and ISU 55-meter record holder Frank Nwankpa to injury, Lynn remains optimistic about the remaining talent on his squad.

Another loss is Damon Lampley, a consistent scorer in the high jump for the Cyclones.

“One key is trying to remain healthy. If you’re not healthy, then you can’t really do what you want to do,” Lynn said.

“The loss of Frank hurts. He was the anchor of our 4 x 100 team, also a school record holder. But we’re still expecting good things,” he added.

Three of those All-Americans are Randy Thompson, Jason Woods and Quinn Harris.

“Woods is an All-American, as well as Quinn and Randy. We are still expecting strong performances in the 4 x 100 and the 4 x 400. Woods is also an all-american in the hurdles,” Lynn said.

Lynn also expects big things from Cyclone weight men Josh Hagedorn, Tim Wilson and Jamie Beyer.

“Josh and Tim are former Big Eight champions. Jamie Beyer is a returning All-American in the indoor season. With those three guys, we feel real strong across the board,” Lynn said.

Another bright spot for the Cyclones is seven-time All-American distance runner Corey Ihmels.

“Corey is coming off a great indoor season, and I think he is going to really do well. He can can run anything from the 800 to the 5000 meters. He’ll probably concentrate on the 1500 meters, but he can compete anywhere,” Lynn said.

Long and triple jumper Yago-Lamela Tobio will be rounding out the stocked ISU attack that features All-American scattered throughout its roster.

“The nice thing is that we have All-Americans in the sprints, hurdles, distance, jumps and throws. Nobody else has that,” Lynn said.

Lynn will also admit that even though no other Big 12 teams has All-Americans competing in each field of events, the Cyclones are still not the favorite to win the Big 12 outdoor season.

“Nebraska is the favorite and then us. Oklahoma and Texas will also be strong. Oklahoma tied us at the NCAA meet for third place. The big 12 placed six teams in the top 19 at the NCAA meet,” Lynn said.

The Cyclone men’s and women’s track squads will begin action on Thursday at the Florida Relays against a field of 10 that includes Florida, Florida State, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgetown, East Tennessee and Clemson.