The men’s track team will compete this weekend in the Iowa State Cyclone Classic- its last meet before the Big Ten Championship on Feb. 26.

According to second-year head coach Wayne Angel, the goal of the last couple weeks – continue to try and qualify as many runners as possible for the NCAA National Championship in March – has not changed. This upcoming meet could be the team’s best chance to do so, according to Angel.

“At the Big Ten Championship, our kids are going to be doubling in some races, and they won’t be able to qualify as easily as they would be at this meet,” Angel said.

Auburn, Florida, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Texas Tech and about 25 other universities will attend in the meet with more than 600 athletes competing.

In the most recent national rankings available at trackshark.com, three of those teams were ranked in the top 10 – Texas was fourth, Florida was seventh and Oregon was tenth. The four other teams – Texas Tech, Auburn, Oklahoma and Nebraska – were ranked 11th, 15th, 18th and 22nd respectively.

“The level of competition at this meet is probably some of the best in the country, so this gives our kids an opportunity to run against some of the best athletes in the country, to qualify and to get those national qualifying marks out of the way prior to the Big Ten’s,” Angel said.

Besides qualifying for the national championship meet, the team has its sights set on some other goals for the rest of the season – four school records.

Sophomore Zach Glavash, who broke Bobby True’s 600-meter record two weekends ago at the Carle/Health Invite Classic, will try to break another of True’s records, this time in the 800-meter. True’s record time of 1:46.96 was set in 1999. A record-breaking time would guarantee Glavash a spot at the national championships.

According to Angel, the 400-meter distance medley relay and mile relay records all could be threatened by the end of the year.

“We’re going after a lot,” Angel said. “We’re seizing this opportunity to do as much as we can towards getting to the national championships, but at the same time using this meet to prepare us and take us one step closer towards achieving our goal of finishing in the top two at the Big Ten Championship.”