Returning to indoor track competition for the first time since 2014, Iowa State women’s distance runner Bethanie Brown is by no means easing her way back.

In her season debut at the Hawkeye Invite last Saturday, Brown’s plan in the 3,000-meter run was to go out and run as fast as she could from the start without really focusing on how the race would play out.

“Well, if I die, I die,” Brown said about her mindset before the race. “It doesn’t really matter. It’s a [first meet of the season] — I just want to go out and have fun and see what I can do.”

Brown jumped out to an early lead and continued to build separation from the pack throughout the race, passing multiple runners twice en route to a first-place finish.

The high level of competitiveness has stuck with Brown throughout her entire collegiate running career at Iowa State, and her coach, Andrea Grove-McDonough, has had to be cautious when deploying her because she has spent the last few years battling health issues and injuries.

“Bethanie’s the kind of gal who will go to the well every single time,” Grove-McDonough said in the fall.

On Saturday, Brown will return to the track to compete in the mile at the Larry Wieczorek Invite in Iowa City.

“I’m really excited to run the mile because I haven’t run a mile since my freshman year of track here,” Brown said. “The mile is just a fun one. I feel like sometimes for the [1,500-meter run], even though I should know what the times are for a 1,500, it just doesn’t make as much sense to me because I think in miles, with being an American I guess.”

Brown and her coach talked about getting in some speed work this season and competing in a shorter race at some point. Brown even proposed doubling down on events at this weekend’s meet.

“I was thinking maybe trying to do some sort of fun double mile, 800, but they’re back to back, so [my coach] was like, ‘Nah, you shouldn’t do that,'” Brown said. 

Brown isn’t the only Iowa State athlete eager to return to competition this weekend.

Ariana Kuhn, a transfer from Western Kentucky, recorded a personal-best and first-place throw in the weight throw last Friday at the Hawkeye Invite.

“It was remarkable,” Kuhn said. “I was just honestly in shock. I was so thankful that God blessed me with that opportunity. Just experiencing it with my teammates who are like my family, that was just an amazing time.”

But as soon as competition ended Friday, Kuhn went back to work, logging how the meet went and trying to figure out a way to maintain consistency. 

Kuhn will try to carry over the momentum she built at the Hawkeye Invite to this weekend’s competition.  

” … That’s how you can get the good marks is if you’re consistent,” Kuhn said. “So that’s one thing this week I’ve been focusing more on — becoming more consistent with my technique and the effort given, and then hopefully producing the results.” 

While many of the team’s athletes entered into the Larry Wieczorek Invite already have one meet of experience this indoor season, some of Iowa State’s top talent will make the trip to Iowa City for their season debuts.

Junior Jhoanmy Luque, who will make her first appearance this indoor season on Friday, is returning from an outdoor season in which she took fourth in the triple jump at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in July 2016.

“When I am on the runway on my first jump, it’s like, OK, now it’s time,” Luque said. “I get a little nervous in that first jump.”