The ISU women’s golf team will compete in its last meet before the Big 12 Championship this weekend at the SMU Dallas Athletic Club Invitational in Dallas, Texas. The Cyclones will compete against 15 other teams, including six teams they will see at the Big 12 Championship.

Seven of the 16 teams competing in Dallas are ranked inside the top-40 in the country, according to golfweek.com. Four of those ranked teams are in the Big 12, including No. 16 Iowa State.

Sophomore Celia Barquin knows there will be a lot of good competition at the SMU Invitational and plans to use that to strengthen her game before the postseason.

“I feel like this tournament will be really good preparation for the Big 12 Championship,” Barquin said. “Our goal this month is definitely the Big 12 Championship. We’ve been talking about it together and we really want to go for it this year.”

With it being the end of the season and the team performing at a high level, it can be hard for the Cyclones not to look past the upcoming meet and focus on the conference championship.

Freshman Chayanit Wangmahaporn, however, tries not to have that attitude toward her game. She tries to focus on the task directly in front of her rather than looking too far into the future.

“I try to practice and improve on everything,” Wangmahaporn said. “I feel like if I practice and focus too much on the Big 12 Championship I might get too stressed and it will affect my game.”

One of the biggest changes the Cyclones are experiencing as the end of the season draws closer is the improving weather and the ability to finally practice outside, something that will help them prepare for the last tournaments in different ways.

Coach Christie Martens said the move outdoors has changed how the team practices.

“We like to separate our season into different sections,” Martens said. “In the winter, we were inside working more on fundamental and developmental skills. Now in the spring, were outside regardless of weather working on competition and scoring skills.”

Senior Cajsa Persson said it’s great to finally be outside, and even though they haven’t been outside for long, it is pivotal to improving their game in the last stretch of the season.

“Being outside we can work on anything we want to,” Persson said. “It’s more tailored to our needs right now, which I think is important to peak our performance at the end of the season. It’s a big difference.”