Although Iowa track and field dominated at the April 23 Musco Twilight, there’s still one area in which the Hawkeyes would like to improve.
In both the men’s and women’s 1,500 meters at Musco, head coach Layne Anderson acknowledged the team will need to improve the times.
“I thought we got some good things done tonight, but we were hopeful for faster times,” he said. “Everybody was running by themselves, and we weren’t able to stay together. I think Michael [Melchert] will run quite a bit faster, and I’m hopeful that the other guys will, too. “
Faster times will likely come from top women’s distance runner Tess Wilberding after she finished sixth in the 1,500. The junior wasn’t able to maintain pace and fell off from the pack, losing steam in the final lap.
Iowa Director of Track and Field Joey Woody recognizes the importance of Wilberding, but at the same time, he realizes it’s difficult because of the lack of healthy bodies.
“In the women’s distance, Tess is the only one feeling healthy right now,” he said. “The lack of depth in the distance races is not who we are as a program; we’ll improve.”
Although the distance-event times weren’t what the coaches wanted at Musco, overall, it was a satisfying day for the program.
The Hawkeyes hope to maintain the recent momentum as they travel to Des Moines on Thursday for the Drake Relays.
One thing that bodes well for continued quality performances is the benefit of not having to travel far.
“We’re not worried about traveling, which is always nice,” Woody said. “The way I look at it is that the Drake Relays are like a home meet for us.”
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Woody believes treating Drake like a home meet will bring the best out of the team, just as it did at Musco.
“We’re going to go out and compete at an extremely high level,” he said. “I think we’re going to really showcase our program when we get to Drake.”
Indoor second-team All-American Elexis Guster also credits the home fans for the boosted performance. She also believes the similarities between Musco and Drake will help the team be at its best.
“Just the atmosphere; I know at Drake there’s going to be a lot of Hawkeye fans cheering us on,” Guster said. “Just to have the atmosphere be the same, I feel like it just pushes us to compete at a high level.”
Indoor first-team All-American Aaron Mallett agrees with Guster; he’s confident that Musco will prepare the team to contend with tough competition at Drake.