The Iowa women’s track and field team will travel to Ames for the Big Four Duals on Saturday, hoping to make some noise against Northern Iowa, Iowa State, and Drake.

The tracksters hope to recreate some of the magic from last season’s Big Four. Last season, four Hawkeyes produced college bests and Iowa all-time marks: now-sophomore Jahisha Thomas (60-meter hurdles/8.60), junior Mahnee Watts (600/1:22.82), and seniors Kaitlyn Nelson (600/1:24.52) and MonTayla Holder (800/2:10.34).

That group wasn’t the only to succeed; last season’s Big Four Duals also included a victory from Lake Kwaza in the 60 meters, who hopes to claim her third first-place Big Four title in her career. Kwaza has dominated the meet. She broke a 31-year-old Iowa school record as a sophomore, clocking a 7.41.

This season in the 60 meters Kwaza has been one of the leaders for the Hawkeyes, finishing in first place in the Border Battle and Iowa Dual earlier this month. In the 600, junior Elexis Guster joins Kwaza as one of the top performers. She has finished as the top competitor in her event at the Border Battle and Iowa Dual. Kwaza and Guster hope to remain in the winning lane against in-state competition.

In women’s weight throw and pole vault, sophomore Leah Colbert and freshman Amy Smith have started the season on positive notes, delivering all-time marks at the Iowa Dual on Jan. 16. Colbert threw 52-2.5 in the women’s weight throw, a mark that puts her 10th in school history. Smith climbed to sixth all-time at Iowa after reaching a new height in the women’s pole vault (10-10). Both Smith and Colbert hope to continue that success at the Big Four.

As for the distance runners, after sitting out the Iowa Dual and Border Battle, head coach Layne Anderson believes the team will be ready to go for Saturday’s meet.

“We certainly want to get the ladies as well prepared as possible,” Anderson said. “I want to be ready to be competitiveon Saturday.”

The long-distance crew had a solid showing last time at the Big Four. Alana Jones and Carolyn Newhouse both finished in the top five in the 3,000. But this season, Madison Waymire and Company want to dominate the competition.

“We definitely want to show our dominance at the meet,” she said. “Our coaches have really been stressing this week that we want to win the state and show that we are a powerhouse track school.”

Waymire realizes that Saturday’s competition also serves as preparation for the upcoming championship meets.