Despite the generally cold weather that accompanies the Musco Twilight meet, this year’s event will be as big as always.

Coaches and athletes alike have been talking up Musco for several weeks and have put the meet’s importance up around Drake and the Mt. SAC Relays, especially because it is also Senior Day.

The meet will provide quite a few challenges for the Hawkeyes — No. 14 Illinois and No. 11 Nebraska are among the teams attending this weekend’s meet.

“They are two of the best teams in the Big Ten right now, so we’re competing against some of the best in the country and the conference,” assistant coach Joey Woody said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to have some great competition.”

The meet also provides an opportunity to see how Iowa stacks up against Big Ten competition they have not had a lot of direct competition against this season. If the Hawks perform well, it could provide them with some confidence heading into the conference meet.

To add to the buzz and general positivity surrounding the team, Woody believes that several of his sprinters are about to explode onto the scene.

“O’Shea Wilson is on the verge of doing something really big in the 100, and I’m really excited to watch that,” Woody said. “I feel like our sprint program is really known to peak at the right time, which is these next few weeks as we prepare for the Big Ten championship.”

In the past, weather has played a big role in the meet, as temperatures are never certain this time of the year and a night meet can cause further dips. Not all of the athletes will admit it, but some of their performances will change in a colder meet.

Former Hawkeye Ethan Holmes, who will compete in several events this weekend, touched on this subject when asked about his experience running at the meet.

“Cold meets aren’t the most fun, but you get to see who wants to work hard and who the toughest people on the track are,” Holmes said. “You get kids who get scared of the cold and don’t run or don’t run hard, and you get kids who show up and compete no matter what the weather is.”

While temperatures supposed to be around 60 and a wind of 14 mph predicted, it should be a fairly nice day, but as the night falls, things could get a tad chilly.

However, the weather, at least to senior Tevin-Cee Mincy, is a bit of a throwback to his high school days at Southeast Polk.

“It’s always nice to run under the lights; it reminds me of a high school meet again, almost,” Mincy said. “We’ll just have to warm up with a bit more clothing, but when it comes time to go, we’ll take it all off and be ready to go.”