Caldwell, Riley in tug-of-war with steeplechase school record, Big 12s up next

AMES - Andrea Grove-McDonough flipped through the Iowa State track and field school record books before the season began, seeing plenty of marks that appeared untouchable.

When the ISU assistant peered at the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, it jumped out at her. Despite a small nucleus on key individuals, she thought someone surely had a chance to affect change.

The back-and-forth nature between freshman Abby Caldwell and junior Colleen Riley is what was a little surprising, and will carry weight for the Cyclones at this weekend's Big 12 Outdoor Championships in Ames. The two race Saturday at 3:20 p.m.

'At the beginning we hadn't even realized we were breaking the school record,” Grove-McDonough said. 'But now that the mark is becoming a little more respectable, it's something we can be proud of. It's been more fun and those two are really having fun with it.”

The women's steeplechase school record has fallen three times this year, with Caldwell claiming two of the three. Her most recent performance resulted in the current record of 10 minutes, 19.21 seconds at the Payton Jordan Invitational.

Lacking steeplechase experience left Caldwell unable to make predictions before the season, but when leaving her performances up to the direction she gets from coaches, she's been able to establish herself firmly in the event.

'I hear a lot of times, ‘Just get in a rhythm,'” Caldwell said. 'Towards the end of the race a lot of times, (the coaches) tell me to just go for it. Sometimes you just need to hear you're capable of doing something, especially in the middle of the race when you're hurting.”

Riley entered the season with the record of 10:33.32 before Caldwell bested that by one second. The red-shirt junior reclaimed the mark at the Drake Relays with a time of 10:25.83 before Caldwell once again snatched the record two weeks ago.

Although the record has changed hands three times, the competition has stayed pretty healthy between the two runners. That's due largely to their ability to look at the bigger picture.

'It's not that we don't care about the record, but we have bigger goals in sight,” Riley said. 'It's been a fun little competition.”

Iowa State hosting for the Big 12 Outdoor Championships for the first time ever, and is hosting its first outdoor conference championship since the Big Eight meet in 1995.

Competition started Thursday with the heptathlon and decathlon and finals in the 10,000-meter runs and several field events.