Heading to the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame today, the Iowa men’s track team is not in the position the members want to be in at this point of the season.

There have been broken records, numerous individual titles, and personal best times and distances for numerous runners, but the team is still lacking in one department: paper points.

“Paper points are a pretty big thing for our team because it lets us know where we’re ranked at in the Big Ten,” sophomore Brennan Davey said. “We really need to step it up and get more points because that will carry over into the Big Ten meet.”

Davey said the team would like to be at around 100 points on paper but is only at about 40. The squad looks at the paper points each week to see where they rank in the Big Ten.

Tracksters Jordan Mullen and Kyle Reid have been leading the team so far this season with career-best and school-record times in the 60-meter hurdles and heptathlon, respectively. Keaton Rickels said the team will need performances from the veterans and more in Notre Dame this weekend.

“Every weekend is a new weekend to improve on your previous times,” the senior said. “Our 4×4 team is really looking forward to busting out a good time. We’re 15th in the nation. We need to move into the top 12, because that’s who goes to nationals.”

Assistant coach Joey Woody is looking forward to the team stepping things up this weekend in preparation to the Big Ten championships as well. He sent emails to the athletes letting them know what they can do as individuals to help set the team up for the year-end meet.

Woody said that every performance and result every week always leads back to the important paper points.

“Wherever we are seeded every week, that’s how many points we’re worth on paper,” he said. “If you don’t have the points going into the Big Ten meet, it’s going to be hard to get them at the meet. You’re not going to be ranked 20th in the conference and expect to be a top-five performer.”

Despite where the Hawkeyes are sitting in the conference right now, Woody said, there’s a lot to look forward to at Notre Dame in the next couple of days.

“We just want to keep progressing,” he said. “We also want to see people who aren’t at the top-eight level in the Big Ten get into the top eight this week and show that they’re here to get us points for the Big Ten championship.”