Completed Event: Track and Field at Bryan Clay Invite on April 16, 2026 ,
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Track and Field
Bryan Clay Invite
Iowa State University Athletics
Track Q & A With Head Coach Corey Ihmels
01.26.2009 | Track and Field
AMES, Iowa ? Iowa State's track team has under five weeks of preparation before the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships Feb. 27-28 in College Station, Texas. Iowa State will host two more indoor meets, including the Iowa State Classic Feb. 12-14 at the Lied Recreation Center. Cyclones.com talked with Ihmels about his take on the rest of the indoor track season.
How will the success of our cross country season have an impact on the track season?
“Well, I think it's obvious here that we've put an emphasis on and had some success this fall in men's cross country. I was in the van with Guor (Marial), Hillary (Bor), Joel (Limo) and Yonas (Mehbrahtu) on the way back from the NCAA cross country meet and our guys started talking about NCAA track. I think that's a good sign that they understand that they have to carry some load and make a big impact. I really feel like when cross country has success, the whole program has success. I think the rest of the team is excited about that and I think we can carry that over and get things started with on the right note with the indoor track season.”
If you could, just talk about the men's distance events and how you feel set up there. You should feel pretty good.
“I think we've got a good core group of guys. We have got some guys that can go a lot of different ways. We return James Galvin who was a national qualifier (800 meters) last year and a school record-holder indoors. You add Rico Loy, Hillary (Bor) at the mile, and Brandon Rooney's back for the mile as well. In the distance events obviously we have some quality guys. We've got Guor (Marial) back and Kiel Uhl back, so I think we've got some pretty good depth. On the women's side obviously we get Lisa (Koll) and Grace (Kemmey) back, we have a couple of newcomers that I'm excited about having an impact at the conference level in the distance events. I think some of the guys have experienced competition at the Big 12 level. The newcomers that haven't competed indoors or outdoors yet for us got some great exposure during cross country season so hopefully that helps propel us a little bit further. You know, as the indoor season goes we've got less than five weeks to the Big 12 indoor meet so it's a short amount of time to get ready but we're excited.”
The sprint events, the men and women, what are you doing there?
“I think we've got some kids and the group is better than last year. I think somebody that's really stood out in workouts and I think is going to have a great indoor season is Lashawn Wright on the women's side. She's really done a good job of progressing and she keeps getting better week in and week out so we're excited about her. Obviously we had some great performances early on with Kianna Elahi in our first indoor meet. I'm excited about what she's going to be able to do in those mid-sprint events. Then on the men's side, we've got some pretty good depth, a lot of guys that are kind of untested that I think are going to kind of have to be successful by committee really. Ian Warner is one newcomer that I expect to do really well in the short sprints. So, it's a developmental group, they're a young group, we've got a lot of new faces so it's going to take us some time to develop but I think as we get going it's going to be a group that can make some noise once we get to the conference meet.”
Field events?
“The guy who sticks out is Zac Brouillette. He had a great showing in our December meet. He's going to do a great job. Zac has been the leader of that group and continues to get bigger and bigger and throw farther and farther. Along side him I think Luke Pinkelman is going to have a great indoor season as well. Both those guys got great experience last year and have worked really hard to get to this point. On the women's side two newcomers that are really going to stand out for us are Laishema (Hampton) and Danielle Frere. Both of them are true freshman but they have the ability make an impact right away. Obviously coach (John) Dagata has done a great job with the throws group and I think the group gets better each semester. I think we're going to see some people come out of that group that we don't expect much from at the beginning of the year. By conference time we should have some great success from people so we're excited about that group.
Could you talk about hurdlers?
“I think obviously somebody that we're really excited about is Jenna Caffrey. I mean, obviously she's been a solid person for us and I think she started the year off really well in the December meet. We're going to transition her over to some other events as well so we're excited about her. A newcomer that I'm real excited about in that same job area is Jordon Andreassen. She had a good first meet and did pretty well in the high jump. She's another multi-event person that's going to make a positive impact for us indoors.”
Indoors we're home a lot. Can you explain why that's a good thing?
“It's always nice to be able to compete on our track because I think it's a great facility. We've got great competition and I think it's something we're familiar with we see every day. Academically, it's great for the student athletes because they don't miss much school and I think there's a familiarity with just being able to show up to our own facility. Being able to have your regular day, being able to show up when you're ready to go and compete at home you are kind of a leg up on your competition. We're fortunate to be able to have the ability to host three high caliber meets. Beyond that, it gives a lot of developmental kids that are maybe redshirting, an opportunity to compete as well. We're really fortunate and obviously we want to keep getting the meets better so we can attract top talent. People say we have one of the premier facilities in the country.
You have depth in the field events.
Tiffanie Synacek in the high jump. She's going to do a great job for us. We had some great performances from some of the new kids too. Zack Little and Tony Johnson both did a great job in that first meet and had some great performances. The jumps group is progressing and I think on both the men's and women's side, Tiffanie is kind of the leader of that group. She obviously had a great year last year and struggled a little bit indoors but was able to finish on a strong note outdoors and I think she's going to carry that over to this indoor season.
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