It’s the last chance for members of the Iowa women’s track and field team to run a qualifying time to earn a place in next weekend’s indoor NCAA meet. Two Hawkeyes will travel to Notre Dame and four to Iowa State University in the hopes to run fast enough.

Distance runners senior Lauren Hardesty and junior McKenzie Melander will compete in the mile in South Bend, Ind., on Saturday. The qualifying time in the mile is 4:38.90. Melander’s career-best, posted at the Iowa State Classic on Feb. 12, is 4:42.54. Hardesty’s season best is 4:42:56, set last weekend at the Big Ten meet.

Traveling to Ames, freshman Erin Jones will run the 200 meters, hoping to better her 24.51 time she recorded, which took seventh at the Big Tens. The automatically qualifying 200 time is 23.70 seconds. Senior Bethany Praska will run the 800 meters. She set the school record at the Iowa State Classic Feb. 12 with a time of 2:06.20. Competing this weekend on the same track she broke the record, Praska will run to break the qualifying time of 2:06.00.

The consistent 4-by-4 relay of Praska, senior captain Tiffany Hendricks, junior Nicole Erickson, and freshman Ashley Liverpool will also compete in Ames. At the Big Tens, the team took second place with a time of 3:40.38. The automatically qualifying time is 3:36.80. Head coach Layne Anderson said this weekend, all of the Hawkeyes are hoping to improve previous times and better their chances to qualify for the NCAAs.

— by Amy Tiffany