The second day of a trio of track meets closed in strong fashion for the Iowa State Track and Field squad. The Cyclones had athletes competing in Lubbock, Texas, Seattle and Bloomington, Indiana, facing off against some of the nation’s best talent in events across the board. Here’s a rundown of what happened on Saturday.

Texas Tech Invitational

First up was the Texas Tech Invitational in Lubbock — a meet in which the Cyclones had already produced stand-out performances in Friday’s events. The highlight for the Iowa State men was senior Daniel Nixon, who ran in a highly competitive 800m run. The Hoover, Alabama, native finished fourth overall with a time of 1:48.60. This time was just two one-hundredths of a second off the indoor personal record he ran last weekend at the Cyclone Open. Nixon finished with third overall in that race, with fellow senior teammates Festus Lagat and Roshon Roomes running the two fastest indoor 800m times in the country.

In the women’s 200m, it was another day and yet another record for sophomore Katarina Vlahovic. Vlahovic has already produced one personal record in Friday’s events, when she placed thirteenth overall in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.35 seconds. In Saturday’s race, Vlahovic smashed her best indoor 200m time by 0.80 seconds, blazing to the line in 24.71 seconds. This time was also good enough for 36th overall, with Ohio State junior Anavia Battle taking the top spot with a meet record run of 22.86 seconds.

In the field events, freshman Kevin Saskon threw another personal best in the men’s shot put with a throw of 16.91m. This is only Sakson’s second meet as a Cyclone, after moving to Ames from Estonia over this past summer. In the women’s long jump, sophomore Erika Furbeck had a career day as a Cyclone, with a personal record jump of 6.20m. While she did end up finishing second, the jump landed Saskon onto the No. 7 spot on the Iowa State all-time list.

UW Invitational

The UW Invitational at the University of Washington in Seattle contained more record-breaking performances for the Cyclones, as a duo of distance races were the highlights for Iowa State.

First up was the women’s 1 mile race, in which the Cyclones were represented by three athletes. Iowa State was led in a standout performance by senior Larkin Chapman, who broke her personal record in the event with a time of 4:43.16, over 10 seconds better than her previous mark in 2019. Larkin’s performance is also now the eighth fastest time in Iowa State history and good enough for 10th overall. The Cyclones also had the tandem of freshman Madelynn Hill and senior Gwynne Wright also produced times that were under 5 minutes, finishing in 4:53.89 and 4:54.56. These were good enough for the 28th and 30th spots respectively.

In the Men’s 3000m, the highlight for the Cyclones was sophomore Chad Johnson, who became the ninth athlete in program history to run a sub-eight minute performance for the indoor race. Johnson finished third in his heat behind Washington freshman Luke Houser in a time of 7:59.24, which was also good enough for 10th overall. Senior David Too, who has also run this race in under eight minutes, ran a more modest 8:15.65 to finish 36th overall.

Indiana Relays

The final meet for the Cyclones today was the Indiana Relays in Bloomington, Indiana. The Iowa State Men’s Distance Medley Relay already produced the performance of the year so far, with the quartet of Lagat, Cebastian Gentil, Roomes and Edwin Kurgat running a school record of 9:28.22. This mark qualified the Cyclones for the NCAA Indoor National Championships in March and is the second fastest time in the country and 13th fastest in NCAA history.

In Saturday’s events, seniors Lagat and Roomes again ran in the 800m after a historic performance at the Cyclone Open, in which they ran the top two fastest times in the nation. For Saturday’s race, Lagat finished third overall with a time of 1:49.12, while Roomes placed fifth in a time of 1:50.71.

Alongside Lagat and Roomes, fellow senior Leonel Perez produced a personal record with a time of 1:52.81, while freshman Konnor also ran a career best indoor 800m when he crossed the line in 1:55.57, with the pair finishing 12th and 18th respectively. Rounding out the Cyclone lineup was fellow freshman Joe Schaeffer, who finished 17th overall in a time of 1:54.29.

Finally in the Men’s 3000m, redshirt senior Addison Dehaven finished fifth overall with a time of 7:54.83. This time equals his personal best in the event, which he ran back in 2018 when he was competing for Boise State University.

The Cyclones will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska, next weekend for the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, which will be hosted by the University of Nebraska. All-American Kurgat, who ran to an individual championship at the NCAA Cross Country Championships back in November, is instead set to run in the Men’s 3000m at the Millrose Games in New York City, the most prestigious indoor track meet in the world. He will run at around 3:56 p.m. and the race will be shown on NBC.