Lewis Leads ISU at Big 12 Championships

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State's men's track and field team enjoyed key contributions from experienced seniors and Big 12 Conference rookies to earn 43 points in the league championships Saturday at the Lied Recreation Athletic Center. The Cyclones' 43 points was good enough for 10th place and blew by last year's 26-point total. Texas and Nebraska tied for first place with 93 points apiece.

“I'm proud of the effort of our guys, I'm disappointed with our finish, but definitely not the effort,” Iowa State head men's track coach Steve Lynn said. “We'll use this to build on and do better outdoors.”

The highest finish of the day came from newcomer Jared Lewis in the 60-meter dash. The sophomore transfer improved on his career best by three-tenths of a second, running a 6.75.

“That's just a gift from God," Lewis said. "I never really thought I could get second in the Big 12. I just wanted to come out and compete as hard as I could and ended up second so I'm grateful."

Neil Hines used a 15-05 3/4 effort in the pole vault to take third in the heptathlon with a career-best 5,459 points. His third-place finish also earned six points for Iowa State in the team results.

“It was a solid meet" Hines said. "I'd like to have more PR's, but I didn't fall apart in any one event. It feels good to finish that high in the Big 12 Conference.”

Newcomer Julian Morris placed fourth in the high jump with a leap of 6-11.75 for the Cyclones, shattering his previous best by over two inches.

Coming off injury, former NCAA-qualifier Chase Madison took sixth place in the shot put. The sophomore threw a 56-02.50 best in his first action of the season.

“I was kind of shaky at first,” Madison said, “I didn't have a lot of practice on technique, but I got in the rhythm after the first couple of throws.”

In the mile, Cyclone Brandon Rooney ran a personal best 4:06.00. He edged out Erik Stanley of Texas down the stretch by eight-tenths of a second to nab fourth place in the event.

David Lantz and Johnny Reel ran 2:27.11 and 2:29.79 in the 1,000-meter run, good for sixth and eighth respectively. Lantz's time is his personal best and his first performance in a Big 12 conference championship.

“I came into the race looking for some experience,” Lantz said. “My goal coming in was to make it to the final. I just wanted to see what I could do. I wanted to stay up at the front of the pack, but I fell back a little bit.”

Guor Majak weathered a cluster of runners at the beginning of the race and paced himself to a sixth-place finish in the 3,000-meter run. His 8:13.37 mark is a career best.

The last meet of the day ended in a flurry as Iowa State's provisionally-qualified 4x400 relay, consisting of Gabe Kimpson, Elijah Braimah, Lewis and Jared Graham, took fifth place with a time of 3:08.93.

The Cyclones are next in action March 3, hosting the ISU Qualifier held at the Lied Recreation-Athletic Center.

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Players Mentioned

Elijah Braimah

Jared Graham

Neil Hines

Neil Hines

Gabe Kimpson

David Lantz

Chase Madison

Julian Morris

Julian Morris

Johnny Reel

Brandon Rooney

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