Following the first day of the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in which the ISU men’s track and field team only fielded three athletes, the second day couldn’t have been more opposite.

The Cyclones had 19 athletes competing in 10 events and most didn’t disappoint, grabbing 14 points for the team and helping Iowa State finish in sixth place in the nine-team field. 

For one of the ISU high jumpers, the day became a “finally” moment.

Cameron Ostrowski had failed to clear seven feet all outdoor season after a strong indoor season. The 2012 all-Big 12 jumper has struggled with an ankle injury, not just this season, but last season as well. 

Ostrowski cleared that mark and then some, jumping over the 7-foot-3-inch mark — finishing in sixth place and earning three points for Iowa State. 

“It’s difficult against this field so I feel good,” Ostrowski said. “My goal this weekend was to clear 6-feet-11-inches so I had a mark to go into regionals. [The ankle] was wearing on me at the end there. For the most part, I felt the best that I’ve felt all outdoor season. Definitely happy with how it went.” 

The redshirt senior was against the Big 12 high jump field, which is considered one of the best fields in the country. Jacorian Duffield, the three-time all-American with Texas Tech, won the event and continued his dash to an all-American honor for the fourth straight year. 

“Amazing,” Ostrowski said about the field. “You come in here and there are about four jumpers in the top six in the nation, you kind of get what you expect. If you put up a 7-foot-3-inch [jump] in any other competition you’re going to win.”

But Ostrowski sure didn’t make his last clearance easy. 

Ostrowski took all three attempts to get over the 7-foot-3-inch mark and on lower bars, he even stopped his jumping motion and went under the bar. His first two attempts on the 7-foot-3-inch mark, he hit the bar going up in his trajectory, something that is never a good sign with one attempt left to go. 

On his last attempt he finally cleared the bar with some room to spare and jumped up in celebration giving his coaches hugs and high fives all around.

“I was a little nervous, none of my jumps had gone spectacular and on some of the ones I would just jump under the bar,” Ostrowski said. “On [the last one] I was just focused on jumping out of the back and if I do that I can clear [6-feet-11-inches] and [7-feet-3-inches] pretty easily.”

Ostrowski’s jump is his official personal record in the event, but he says that two years ago, he jumped over the 7-foot-4.25-inch mark unofficially when he was participating under a suspension but was “still wearing the [Iowa State] jersey and everything.”

Taylor Sanderson had a successful day as well, finishing up his second day in the decathlon. He finished in third place by a hair and earned six points, just missing the mark in the last event, the 1,500-meter, that would have put him in the second spot. He finished with 7,301 points, 59 points lower than his personal best set at the Mt. SAC Relays. 

For him personally, it wasn’t what he was looking for, but what really disappointed him was the amount of points he won for his team.

“That’s what was so heartbreaking,” Sanderson said about his down-to-the-wire finish that cost him two more points. “I don’t have great vision and I looked over at the scoreboard and I thought I had 4:36, so I was like ‘oh yeah, I held him off.’ Then my pole vault coach came over and told me [Wolf Mahler] got me by four … I felt I did what I could.”

The decathlon is a unique event in the list of track and field events because the athlete competes in multiple competitions during a two-day span. 

The redshirt senior recognizes it takes a special kind of mentality to be successful in the 10-event competition — one that he honed in on during the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.

“When you deal with adversity, you just have to move on,” Sanderson said when asked about his discussions with his coaches. “When you put on the next pair of shoes, you put it behind you. … Those negative things drag you down and it’s really tough to come back from that.”

Sanderson said he currently sits in 19th place in the nation with his 7,360 score and the top 24 make the NCAA Outdoor Championships and the only power conference’s meet left is the Big 10 this weekend, which throws Sanderson’s hopes for the NCAA outdoor meet in the air. 

Shot putter Jan Jeuschede had himself a successful day as well, getting a fourth-place finish and a personal record, throwing 61-07.75.  

The No. 6 Texas Longhorns finish the day in first place by a wide margin, registering 71 points and leading by 20.25 points. 

The Cyclones will finish the Big 12 Outdoor Championship on Sunday, starting with the 4×100 relay at 3 p.m. The most notable will be all-American Edward Kemboi, who won his heat in the 800-meter race Saturday and will attempt to defend his Big 12 title in the race at 5:25 p.m.