Members of the Iowa women’s track and field team will compete at two different meets Saturday.

A number of sprinters, throwers, middle-distance runners, and one jumper, freshman Carisa Leacock, will participate in the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge, La.

An additional group will stick a little closer to home and make the roughly hour and 45 minute trip to Pella, Iowa, to compete at the Central Invitational.

Head coach Layne Anderson said the LSU Invitational is a new meet for the Hawkeyes, who for the past two years have competed at Auburn University in the Tiger Track Classic. But he said Iowa was “looking for something different” that is located warm-weather locale. Iowa will face such schools as Texas A&M, LSU, and UConn at the meet.

He said it will be an “outstanding meet” to kick off the outdoor season.

The Central Invitational also meets a lot of needs, Anderson said, for many of Iowa’s developing athletes who aren’t ready to travel to LSU. He said that in Pella, they will face a more appropriate level of competition and noted it gives an opportunity to see if any of the younger Hawkeyes will emerge to compete in the outdoor track and field postseason.

— by Amy Tiffany