Persistence is key.

The Iowa State men’s track and field team saw some slight success on Friday in Gainesville, Florida, and Stanford, California, but overall there wasn’t much to be happy about.

It’s early in the outdoor season and the Cyclones are understandably still a work in progress. They have a long way to go before the Drake Relays and the postseason, but they need to work out some of the kinks.

The good performances came from sophomore distance runner Festus Lagat, who has been gradually improving after a strenuous cross-country season prior to this track and field season.

Lagat ran in the 800-meter run in Florida, and he was able to set his own personal record over two seconds with a time of 1:49.31.

Lagat was running in an impressive field with teammates Frank Hayes, Jaymes Dennison, and Roshon Roomes who finished 14th, 16th, and 32nd, respectively. Lagat finished 11th in the event.

Another personal record was set for the Cyclone men in the 400-meter hurdle race.

Eric Fogltanz finished in eighth in the event with a time of 52.15 which was less than a second better than his previous record.

Fogltanz has also had health issues earlier in the season that have stretched back to last year, so the Cyclones have to be happy with how he looks now.

Coach Jeremy Sudbury emphasized earlier in the week that there were no injuries to report for this weekend and it’s looking like the Iowa State team should finish the season at full strength barring any injuries in the last month of the season.

Meanwhile, in Stanford, Iowa State only had a few finishes which were highlighted by junior distance runner Dan Curts.

Curts was able to shatter his previous personal record in the 5000-meter run with a time of 13:56.39.

Curts specialized mostly in the mile and 1000-meter runs indoors so he could add much-needed depth to the 5000-meter field for the Cyclones.

The action continues on Saturday in Florida.