Iowa State’s men’s and women’s track teams competed at the Desert Heat Classic in Tucson, Arizona, where junior Rachel Joseph broke the meet record alongside seven PRs from the team as a whole Saturday.

Field events start afternoon with Willits grabbing gold

Senior Sydney Willits once again showed off her long jump talent, taking first with a jump of 21-10 ¾. Sophomore Justin Gleason took 11th on the men’s side with a jump of 24-3 ½.

Redshirt sophomore Braden Goellner snatched third in the men’s high jump with a height of 6-11, while freshman Maia Denge-Hagan took 13th on the women’s side with a height of 5-6 ½.

Junior Ava Cinnamo took fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 40-8 ¾, 5 ½ inches further than her first-place finish at the Drake Relays last week. With her goal being to place at the Big 12 Championship meet, she sits at 15th with that result.

The men’s throwers capped field events with three top-10 finishes from redshirt juniors Garret Wagner and Zach Verzani in the hammer and senior Daniel Norris in the discus. Wagner took eighth with a throw of 199-9 and Verzani took 10th with a throw of 195-4. Norris took 10th in the discus with a throw of 181-1.

Redshirt freshman Brandon Fischer also took 17th in the discus with a throw of 173-3 while senior Cam Jones took 21st with a throw of 168-5.

Joseph lights it up in the 400 and 200 meter dashes

In a memorable meet for Joseph, her efforts led to a toppling of the 400-meter dash meet record by 0.11 seconds, as well as a reset of the school’s 200-meter dash record. 

Her 400-meter dash came in 50.79, 0.05 seconds off of her school record. This was 0.31 seconds faster than her season best set at Texas A&M. Her 200-meter dash came in 23.36.

Runners catch heat at perfect time with seven PRs

All three men’s hurdlers either ran a PR or a season best in the 110-meter hurdles. Redshirt sophomore Jack Latham placed 13th with a time of 13.89, and junior Alec Carr was a blink of an eye behind with a PR of 13.91 for 14th, good enough for seventh all-time in school history. Sophomore Grayson Hartman placed 22nd with a time of 14.26.

In the women’s 100-meter hurdles, senior Kiersten Fisher grabbed 12th with a time of 13.89 and freshman Riyah Burns took 14th with a time of 13.98.

Both men’s and women’s 4×100 relay teams ran faster than their finals times at the Drake Relays last weekend. The women placed ninth, moving to ninth in school history with a 45.74, 0.43 seconds faster than last Saturday. The men placed eighth with a 40.49, 0.4 seconds faster than at the Drake Relays.

Alongside Joseph in the 200-meter dash, sophomore Brooklyn Sandvig set the second fastest time in school history with her eighth-place finish of 23.42. On the men’s side, freshman Ty Koehnk grabbed a PR with his 28th-place finish of 21.85. Latham placed 35th with a 22.11 and sophomore Calvin Curcija placed 42nd with a 22.19.

In the men’s 400-meter dash, junior Gus Langford’s PR of 46.93 resulted in a 14th place finish, while Curcija placed 19th with a time of 47.26. Koehnk took 33rd with a 47.91. 

Behind Joseph on the women’s side, sophomore Cameron Moon and Karynne David took 39th and 40th. Moon did so in 57.94 while David did in 58.24.

The 800-meter run capped the night for the Cyclones, where junior Kaia Holtkamp snagged the only PR of the six 800 runners. Her 2:09.32 was good enough to place 13th on the women’s side. Junior Makayla Clark took 11th with a time of 2:08.77 and sophomore Camryn Hubbard took 14th with her time of 2:09.80.

On the men’s side, senior Dugion Blackman’s 1:47.87 was good enough to take second place, while senior Darius Kipyego placed sixth with a time of 1:48.25. Junior Emanuel Galdino placed 13th with a time of 1:49.96 and senior Leroy Russell III capped the top 15 with a time of 1:50.45.

Cyclone Twilight to cap regular season

On Friday, the Cyclones will end the 2025 regular season at the Cyclone Twilight, the only outdoor regular meet in Ames. This will be the last meet where the Cyclones can get tuned up for the postseason.