What stood out from the Hawkeye track teams first competition of the season.
By Adam Hensley
The Iowa men’s track team kicked off its indoor track season with the Black & Gold Intrasquad meet, which took place on Dec. 4-5.
Split into the Black and Gold teams, the Hawkeyes put on a show in this exhibition event.
James Harrington started off the season in record-setting fashion.
Harrington wooed the crowd by winning both his races (60 meters and 300 meters). More noteworthy, his 6.74 time on the 60 was his college best, as well as fourth all time in Hawkeye history. He then broke the meet record (previously held by Patrick Richards) in the 300, running a time of 34.23. This hot start is a confidence booster for Harrington.
“[My] confidence is good,” he said. “That PR in the 60, that wasn’t expected. I [need to] keep on improving.”
If Harrington does improve, he’s in for a stellar indoor and outdoor season. He’ll be one of the big names to look for entering his senior season.
The 600 meters showcased Iowa’s depth.
Five of the six runners who participated in this event were less than a second apart from each other. Sophomore Noah Larrison won the 600 (1:21.73), but fellow sophomore Nicholas Aly was only 0.05 seconds behind him. Mar’yea Harris, running in his first meet for Iowa, ran right behind Aly by 0.03 seconds.
If these runners can consistently run together at the same high level, scoring will come easily.
O’Shea Wilson is the Jumpman.
Wilson finished 8 inches in the long jump ahead of the next Hawkeye, freshman Collin Hofacker. Wilson’s efforts scored 5 points for the Black team.
While his 21-10 jump doesn’t spring off the stat sheet, his career best does. In 2014, Wilson jumped 25-2 at the Illinois Twilight meet.
Coming off the 2015 season in which he redshirted, Wilson is one of Iowa’s top sprinters. During the 2014 outdoor season, he was an All-American. He ran the second leg of the 400 meter relay that placed sixth in the NCAA Championships and also ran in a 400 meter relay that broke the school record in the prelims of that meet.
The freshmen are the new kids on the block.
While the upperclassmen impressed observers in this meet, the freshmen displayed their talent as well. Christian Brissett finished third in the 60 meters, only 0.02 seconds behind Vinnie Saucer. DeJuan Frye finished second in the 300 meters (where Harrington broke the meet record) with a time of 34.58. Drake Gauthier, a Michigan native, won the 1,000 meters (2:29.07). In the mile, Charles Nash finished second. Fellow distance runner Kallin Khan won the 3,000 meter run with a time of 8:50.60.
While the intrasquad is only an exhibition meet, it still gave the freshmen the potential to show coaches what level they can run at. They did not disappoint observers.
Distance runners earned high praise.
Coach Layne Anderson was pleased with his distance squad.
“You’re always hopeful that everyone can have success,” Anderson said. “[Mile runners] want to be comfortably running sub 4:10, and I think to do it [at the Intrasquad] is a good step for six, eight, ten weeks from now.”
Senior Michael Hart ran 4:09.22. Anderson expects him to be one of the leaders going into this season.
In his first college mile, Nash’s second place grabbed Anderson’s attention.
“Those guys happened to perform the best, Charles and Michael,” he said.
With this exhibition meet under their belts, the Hawkeyes got their first taste of competition of the indoor season. Now, the Hawkeyes prepare for the Border Battle in Champaign, Illinois, on Jan. 9, 2016.
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