Two Hawkeyes returned from Seattle this weekend with school records for the men’s track and field team.

Junior captain Erik Sowinski finished the 800 in 1:47.98, besting his own Iowa mark in the event by 0:00.52.

Sowinski’s time was also good enough to qualify him for the NCAA meet in College Station, Texas. He became the third member of the squad to automatically qualify this year, joining Justin Austin (200 meters) and Troy Doris (triple jump) in action on March 11-12.

Jeff Thode also ran at the University of Washington. Thode’s time of 8:00.38 in the 3,000 meters puts him first all-time in the event at Iowa. The previous best was 8:00.81 by Micah VanDenend in 2006.

The rest of the men’s team competed in Ames over the weekend.

Sprinter Justin Austin was 0.01 of a second off his school record time in the 60 meters, winning the event in 6.72 seconds.

All-American Steven Willey claimed two first-place finishes, including the 400 meters (46.91 seconds).

The senior was also part of the first-place 1,600-meter relay team, running with Patrick Richards, Ethan Holmes, and Chris Barton. The four posted a season-best time of 3:08.85.

— by Ben Schuff