After two successful meets March 15 and 16, Iowa State once again prepares to split its squad for two more meets Friday and Saturday. 

Following the Blue Oval Open and the Hayward Premier meet, the men for Iowa State jumped up to the No. 8 spot in the country. Prior to this week, the men were unranked, and the women still remain unranked. 

Part of the team will head down to Oxford, Mississippi, for the Joe Walker Invitational, which is a two-day meet at Ole Miss. The rest of the athletes will travel Friday to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Jim Duncan Invitational at Drake University.

This will be the Cyclones’ second time competing at the Blue Oval for an outdoor track meet, and it won’t be the last either. 

The last time Iowa State competed at Drake, the women’s throwers, led by sophomore Emily March, swept all four throwing events. 

March ended the day with a new personal record by over 17 feet. Her final throw in the discus was 49.58 meters, which is good for the No. 5 spot in the Iowa State record books. 

Another notable performance from the last time the team was competing at Drake comes from Cebastian Gentil.

The sophomore out of Miami, Florida, took the win in the 400-meter dash en route to setting a new personal best with a time of 47.88.

Gentil has been Iowa State’s 400-meter leg on their past two indoor All-American Distance Medley Relay Teams.

Looking ahead to Friday and Saturday, junior Mitchell Day is suiting up to compete in the men’s 5,000-meter run. 

Day is coming off a solid outing at the Hayward Premier Meet in Eugene, Oregon. There, he posted a 28:55.03 in the men’s 10,000-meter run, which is a 75-second improvement from his previous time in that event. 

The Joe Walker Invitational will see multiple ranked teams suiting up to compete. Aside from the Iowa State men’s team at No. 8, No. 12 Auburn and No. 9 Kentucky will also be making the trip to Oxford, Mississippi.

The Auburn track and field team has been building momentum over their last couple of meets. 

On the men’s side of things, Auburn has four athletes ranked in the top 10 of their event nationally.

Leading the group is sprinter Dante Brown, who ranks third in the country in the men’s 100-meter dash.

Events will begin Friday for both meets. The Joe Walker Invitational will kick off with the Heptathlon at noon while the Jim Duncan Invitational will begin at 1:45 p.m. with the women’s 3,0000-meter steeplechase.