Karessa Farley is ready to prove the rankers wrong in the NCAA championships for a second time.

She entered the NCAA indoor meet in March ranked 13th nationally in the 60-meter hurdles and proceeded to finish eighth.

Now going into this week’s NCAA outdoor meet ranked 21st nationally in the 100-meter hurdles, the Iowa sophomore looks to duplicate what she did in the spring.

Farley, who has performed well for the Iowa women’s track and field team this season, heads to Fayetteville, Ark., expecting another strong finish.

“I’m pretty confident about [the NCAA championships], and I feel like I’m ready to run that perfect run,” she said.

Iowa head coach Layne Anderson concurs.

“I’m eager and optimistic that she will do very, very well,” he said.

Farley, who has been running since she can remember, began her track career at the age of 9. At 15, she was thrown into running hurdles and realized she was good at it.

The Barbados native has provided excitement for the Hawkeyes this season, because, Iowa assistant coach Clive Roberts says, she sets a high bar.

“She is the foundation for our track team,” Roberts said. “I would say she is what we look at our athletes to be.”

When the gun goes off, he said, Farley is ready to compete, and she will give it her all.

Before every race, she pictures herself running the race to get ready mentally.

She has one goal that stands above all others: to be a national champion before her collegiate career is over.

Intending to run professionally after college, Farley wants to take this opportunity to become better. But doing so at the NCAA championships will not be easy.

“I think she will do very well, but she will have to run her lifetime best,” Roberts said. “She’s going to have to break a school record, and she’s going to have to go some place that she’s never been before.”

The question is whether Farley is ready to do just that.

“I will say that she has looked fantastic in practice,” Roberts said. “She’s probably had one of the better practice weeks over the last week-and-a-half, so I think she’s ready.”

No matter the outcome, that Farley has two more years to grow at Iowa keeps Anderson optimistic about her remaining collegiate career.

“She is a tremendous athlete,” he said. “We feel like she will go down in the record books here at Iowa as the best short hurdler ever.”