AMES, Iowa- In one of the strongest ISU Classic meets ever, featuring nearly 20 automatic and over 50 provisional qualifying times to the NCAA Indoor Championships, Iowa State’s track and field squad held its own Saturday at the Lied Recreation Facility. The Cyclones achieved numerous top-ten finishes and personal bests.

Sophomore Lashawn Wright treaded through a stacked 60-meter dash field of 67 athletes to finish fifth place overall, posting a time of 7.59. Wright earned her way to the finals by racing to the lin in 7.56 seconds in the preliminaries and then matching her career best 7.54 in the semi-finals. The 7.54 mark remains the third-best time in the 60-meter dash in ISU history. The winner of the event, Lakecia Ealey of Florida, set a meet record with a time of 7.26.

The 800-meter run provided plenty of fireworks as the top four athletes of the race all finished under the NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:48.20. James Galvan, Iowa State’s record-holder in the event, ran a 1:49.69 to place fifth. Elias Koech of UTEP (1:46.77), Shaun Smith of Oral Roberts (1:47.28), Carlos Phillips of Florida (1:47.89) and Tyler Mulder of UNI (1:48.17) all met the NCAA automatic qualifying standard.

Newcomer Tiffanie Synacek continued to inch closer to the high jump’s provisional qualifying height in her rookie campaign. The Council Bluffs native improved her collegiate best, topping 5-08.75, two inches from provisionally qualifying. Synacek took fifth in the event.

Fellow freshman Hillary Bor, also fell just short of the provisionally-qualifying mark in the mile. Bor’s time of 4:04.70 earned him fifth place in the race, and only seven-tenths of a second off provisionally-qualifying pace. Teammate Kevin Born, running unattached, finished eighth in the event with a time of 4:07.28.

Several Cyclones attained personal bests Saturday. Derron Montgomery sprinted to a 47.83 clocking in the 400-meter dash to beat his previous career best of 48.28. Shaylyn Wiarda set a career best in the women's 600-yard run, with a time of 1:28.64. Amy Waggoner earned a personal best in the shot put, tossing the shot 48-0.  In his debut of the indoor season, senior Jayden Russ achieved a career best with an 8:19.92 in the 3,000-meter run.

“A lot of good things happened over the course of the meet," Iowa State head coach Corey Ihmels said. "We had a lot of kids that recorded personal bests. This meet was a good indicator to let us know where we stand. We used a lot of different people in different events and we are looking forward to the performing at the conference meet in a couple of weeks.”

ISU now receives two weeks rest, before the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Lincoln, Neb. on Feb. 29-March 1.

Cyclone Results

Women
High Jump; 1, Gwen Wentland, Unattached, 6-0.75, 5, Tiffanie Synacek, Iowa State, 5-08.75

60-Meter Dash; 1, Lakecia Ealey, Florida, 7.26, 5, Lashawn Wright, Iowa State, 7.59

Men
Mile Run; 1, Shane Knoll, Michigan State, 4:01.45, 5, Hillary Bor, Iowa State, 4:04.70

800-Meter Run; 1, Elias Koech, UTEP, 1:46.77, 5, James Galvan, Iowa State, 1:48.20

3,000-Meter Run; 1, Daniel Strackeljahn, Unattached, 8:12.08, 9, Jayden Russ, Iowa State, 8:19.92