Iowa State men's head cross country coach Jeremy Sudbury sits down with DyeStat's Keenan Gray to talk about his No. 1-ranked Cyclones team as they head into the heart of the cross country season, including a trip to Madison, Wisc., for the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Friday Oct. 17.

Ranked preseason No. 1 in the USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll for the first time in program history, the Cyclone men have looked the part in the early season, highlighted by a big team win at the Gans Creek Classic on Sept. 26, scoring 47 points with five runners finishing in the top 20. 

Now in his fifth year as the head coach, Sudbury talks about how his team has taken the next step forward this fall on their journey to win the program's first national title since 1994. At the 2024 NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships, Iowa State finished second to BYU, the second time the program's been runner-up at the national meet under Sudbury's guidance.

While Iowa State won't be running their top five finishers from the Gans Creek Classic at this year's Nuttycombe Invitational, Sudbury talks about how this will be a great opportunity for the rest of his team to gain experience from racing against a national field. It will also be another opportunity to see which individuals will join the other five runners as part of the Big 12 Cross Country Championships team, which will be raced on Oct. 31 in Lawrence, Kansas.

WATCH THE NUTTYCOMBE WISCONSIN INVITATIONAL FRIDAY OCT. 17 ON RUNNERSPACE.COM (RunnerSpace+ required).