By Connor Sindberg
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The women’s track and field team had a productive weekend at the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Indiana. No team scores were totaled, but the women had excellent performances across the board.
Leading the charge once again for the Hawkeyes was Elexis Guster. She paced a personal college-best 53.47 in the women’s 400 meters for fourth place. After her outstanding effort, the Atlanta native ranks fourth all-time at Iowa, first this indoor season in Big Ten and 11th nationally.
“Elexis is having a great indoor season,” Iowa Director of Track & Field Joey Woody said in a release. “When you’re setting personal bests every single week, that is a good sign of big things to come later in the season. She’s definitely looking to do big things at the conference meet in a couple of weeks as well as trying to get to the national meet.”
Also registering a top-eight finish in the 400 meters was Briana Guillory (eighth/54.73). Lake Kwaza continued the sprinter-team success in the 60 meters, in which the senior finished fifth (7.43). She added a second place in the 200.
The sprint squad capped off the meet with a first in the 4×400-meter relays. The quartet of MonTayla Holder, Alexis Hernandez, Guster, and Guillory finished at 3:36.99, the second-best time in Hawkeye history.
The sprinters weren’t the only to shine, the jumpers also had some outstanding performances. Sophomore Jahisha Thomas had an excellent showing, finishing ninth in the semifinals of the 60-meter hurdles at 8.62.
“Jahisha got out a lot better today, but she ended up clipping a couple of hurdles and almost went down,” Woody said in a release. “Her race is very rhythmic, so it’s just getting more and more comfortable with the speed in between the hurdles. This is only her second weekend competing in the event, and she’s a lot faster than she’s ever been.”
To conclude the meet, distance runners Tess Wilberding finished 26th (9:49.26) and Madison Waymire finished 30th (9:51.12) in the 3,000 meters.
Next week, the Hawkeyes will split up for the Iowa State Classic in Ames and the Tyson Classic in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Feb. 12-13.
