The men’s outdoor track season began with success, and Iowa rode a strong showing by the field events to finish second in the Arizona State Invitational.

Competition spanned March 28 and 29, with the hammer throw and javelin competing on the first day and the remaining field events and all of the running events on the latter.

In the first competitive javelin throw of the season, junior Sam Joens belted out a 60.93m toss to win the event for the Hawkeyes. Junior Gabe Hull also scored points for the Hawkeyes by finishing sixth in the hammer throw.

March 29 was also full of success for the Hawkeyes, and they continued to perform strongly in the field events and sprints.

Hull won the discus championship with a throw of 56.66m. To add to his already impressive meet, he had a personal record 17.66m throw in the shot put, a mark that saw him finish second. Senior Drew Clark also performed well, finishing fourth in the shot put and also scoring points for the Hawkeyes.

Freshman O’Shea Wilson had another strong meet, highlighted by his fourth-place finish in the long jump in which he reached a distance of 7.19 meters. Wilson also scored points with a fifth-place finish in the 200 and sixth in the 100.

“It was the first outdoor meet of the season and you could not have asked for a better day,” director of track and field Larry Wieczorek said in a release. “We had some athletes miss a great opportunity, but we had others that performed at a high level."

Kaleb VanCleave had a strong outing in the 400 with a time of 47.97, good enough for second place. Freshman Jared Ganschow also scored in the event, clocking a 48.75 to finish fourth.

Freshman hurdler Aaron Mallett made his début in the 110-meter hurdles and finished second with a time of 13.90, ninth best in school history.

Iowa finished with 109.50 team points; winner Arizona State complied 190 points. Third place Adams State scored 95, while Nebraska and Arizona scored 87 and 69.50, respectively, to round out the top five.

— by Jordan Hansen