By Jordan Hansen
Despite sending a school-record 22 entries to the NCAA Championships last week, the Iowa men’s and women’s track teams ended the year with a bit of a sour taste in their mouths.
Six women and four men picked up second-team All-American honors, in three relays and four individual events.
“We had a good season, and we are happy for the record number of qualifiers getting to the NCAA Championships, but our program needs to take the next step and believe that we deserve to be in the finals at this meet,” Iowa Director of Track and Field Joey Woody said in a release.
All-American hurdler Aaron Mallett’s struggles were one of the biggest surprises. He ran a 13.80 to finish 14th at this year’s NCAA meet, slower than both his qualifying time at the NCAA regional (13.77) and his fifth-place time a year ago (13.40).
Iowa’s best performance, position wise, was Elexis Guster’s 400-meter race. She finished 10th with a time of 58.52. Guster was one of the busiest Hawkeyes at the championships; she also was a part of the 400- and 1,600-meter relays.
Guster, along with Briana Guillory, Alexis Hernandez, and Lake Kwaza took 14th in the 400-meter relay. The 1,600-meter relay (Guillory, Hernandez, Guster, and MonTayla Holder) also took 14th in that event.
Holder, a senior, was also solid in the 400 meters, taking 16th place in the event — her highest finish in any NCAA event of her career.
Only one men’s relay managed to attain All-American status — the 400-meter group of Christian Brissett, James Harrington, Vinnie Saucer Jr., and Mallett finished in 16th place.
In the field, things did not go well for the highly touted redshirt freshman Reno Tuufuli. The Las Vegas native scratched (fouled) on all three of his attempts, which prompted throws coach Andrew Dubs to be blunt about the performance.
“A disappointing day, no question,” Dubs said in a release. “I thought coming in he had a chance to make top three — practices have been indicating so. I think what today did is show that there is a lot of work to do moving forward. All of the little things throughout the year add up.
“Today shows both he and I need to do better. Period.”
Iowa did, however, have one solid performance in the field; Jahisha Thomas ended up 15th (6.15 meters) in the long jump.
Four other Hawkeyes earned honorable-mention All-American status. Guillory finished 20th in the 200 meters to cap off her day. Men’s sprinters Mar’yea Harris (18th) and Carter Lilly (20th) placed in the 400 and 800 meters, respectively.
Mitch Wolff ended up 23rd in the 400-meter hurdles.
While the Hawks absolutely wanted to see some first-team All-Americans, they do not lose a whole lot from either squad — 12 NCAA qualifiers will return to the team next season.
There is quite a bit of promise on the team, but as Woody said in the release, there still remains a step to be taken to become a truly championship-level team.