The Iowa men’s track team snared a spot in the national rankings, coming in at 22nd. The Hawkeyes are the third-highest ranked Big Ten team.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Iowa Director of Track and Field Joey Woody said. “The athletes and coaching staff have worked hard to get to this point.”

This jump in the polls followed an impressive outing at the Musco Twilight.

The team has slowly climbed in the rankings because of record seven top-25 nationally ranked individual performances in their events this season.

“This is just one of the steppingstones in the process of being a consistent top-10 team,” Woody said. “We’re a team that expects to be a top-10 team consistently. We’ve got the athletes who can [make us] a top-10 team when we get to the national championships. The key is keeping athletes healthy, keeping them focused on the process.”

Hurdler Aaron Mallett (fourth in 100-meter hurdles), thrower Reno Tuufuli (eighth in discus), high-jumper Kevin Spejcher (24th), hurdlers Mitch Wolff and Noah Larrison (16th and 22nd in the 400-meter hurdles), sprinter James Harrington (14th in the 200 meters), and 800-runner Carter Lilly (20th) are the Hawkeyes who rank nationally in their events.

Iowa aims to climb higher in the rankings on Thursday through April 30, when the Hawkeyes travel to Des Moines for the Drake Relays.

— Adam Hensley