The Iowa men’s track and field team will compete at two meets this weekend, both starting today and ending Saturday.

Many of the distance runners and throwers are in Des Moines for the Jim Duncan Invitational at Drake.

Six Hawkeyes will run the 1,500 meters, including junior Chase Kadlec, who won the event last weekend at the Cornell Invitational.

Dan Kuhlman and Jeff Thode will also be in action this weekend, running in the 800 meters.

Nick Brayton in the discus and Matt Banse and Ben Stancombe in the hammer highlight the throws group.

Joining them at Drake will be sprinters Tevin Mincy (100 and 200 meters) and Chris Barton (200 and 400 meters).

The rest of the sprinters and most of the middle-distance runners are at Auburn University for the War Eagle Invitational.

Tougher competition will be awaiting Iowa in Auburn, Ala.; the field includes No. 4 Florida State, No. 18 Auburn, No. 20 Mississippi, No. 21 Georgia, and No. 22 South Carolina.

At least one Black and Gold runner is entered in nine events, including the 4×100 and 4×400-meter relays.

Despite being ranked 51st in the country, the Hawkeyes sent a number of top-notch runners to Auburn. Among those is Steven Willey, who holds the 17th fastest 400 time in Division-I.

— by Ben Schuff