AMES – Iowa State continued its track and field season with its first home meet. At the ISU Holiday Invite, the Cyclones saw a record get broken along with domination across other events.

Women’s duo dominates pentathlon

In the women’s pentathlon, Iowa State sophomore Brooke Naughton and freshman Maia Denge-Hagen dominated in the pentathlon’s five events. In all five, one of the two athletes finished first in each event, while the other claimed third, fourth, or sixth. 

Naughton claimed first in the high jump (5-feet 6-inches), shot put (34-feet 1.25-inches) and long jump (18-feet 11.25-inches) and went on to win the pentathlon. Denge-Hagen claimed first in the 60-meter hurdles (9.18 seconds) and 800-meter run (2:26.04) and finished third in the pentathlon.

Thai Thompson takes second in heptathlon, breaks school record

Senior Thai Thompson surged to a second-place finish in the men’s heptathlon, behind only Northern Iowa’s Carter Morton. In running events, Thompson finished third in the 60-meter hurdles (8.46 seconds) and finished second in the 60-meter dash (6.91 seconds) and 1000-meter run (2:40.06).

In field events, Thompson took home the win in the pole vault (15-feet 1-inch) and placed second in the long jump (23-feet 8.75-inches), fifth in the high jump with a leap of 6-feet, 3.5-inches and fourth in the shot put.

Thompson took down Taylor Sanderson’s 2016 record of 5,619 with a total of 5,649.

Distance athletes dominate

In the women’s 1000-meter run, the Cyclones swarmed the top four, with a first-place finish from freshman Becca Heitzig (2:49.48), followed up by sophomore Sheridan Wheeler (2:50.56), sophomore McKinley Wheeler (2:50.75) and freshman Josie Baker (2:52.41}. 

In addition to the women’s dominance, senior Tyler Carreon ran to a first-place finish in the men’s 1000-meter run (2:23.87).

On the women’s side in the 600-meter run, sophomores Camryn Hubbard and Kaia Holtkamp claimed the top two places. Hubbard ran a 1:32.89 and Holtkamp ran a 1:35.16. In the men’s 800-meter run, Carreon ran to a third-place finish with a time of 1:53.99. 

The Cyclone sophomores struck again with three top-five finishers in the women’s 3,000-meter run, including Sydney Morrell (second, 9:42.74), Sheridan Wheeler (fourth, 9:53.76) and McKinley Wheeler (fifth, 10:05.66). 

In the men’s mile, juniors Emanuel Galdino and Riley Simpson claimed second and third respectively. Galdino ran a 4:01.96 and Simpson ran a 4:09.69. Capping off the distance events, sophomore Allen Bonnessen ran to a third-place finish in 14:36.83 in the men’s 5000-meter run.

Cyclones strike hard in field events

Outside the pentathlon and heptathlon, the Cyclone men and women had a handful of top finishes throughout the meet. 

In the men’s and women’s weight throws on Friday, men’s champion, senior Cam Jones, threw for 73-feet 1.25-inches, and runner-up redshirt junior Garret Wagner threw for 67-feet 6.75-inches. 

Senior Blake Veenstra would claim third with a throw of 57 feet, 9.75 inches in the shot put.

For the women, junior Jadan Brumbaugh threw a distance of 55-feet 5.75-inches, taking fourth place. She would later take second in the women’s shot put, with a throw of 48-feet 9-inches.

Sophomore Amari Laing took first in the women’s long jump with a leap of 19-feet 2-inches.