By Adam Hensley
The Hawkeyes’ start to the 2016 cross-country season was better than most would have imagined. An individual victory, a school record, and top-two finishes for both the men and women highlighted an impressive home-opener on Sept. 2.
While it’s early on in the season, improvement from last year was obvious. If this continues, Hawkeye cross-country will be in good shape come championship season.
One reason for promise resides in subtle changes coach Randy Hasenbank has implemented.
To help balance the scoring on the women’s team, he decided to hold Madison Waymire back for part of the race — which sounds strange, considering she has proven herself to be the top runner on the team — but it worked out.
“I wanted Madison to pull back just a little bit to pull the others along, to build some confidence that they can stay with her longer than they might think, and just to start to build the nucleus of the group a little further up in the field longer into the race,” Hasenbank said.
Waymire ended up in third place (only 1.5 seconds behind Tess Wilberding.)
Hasenbank also measures the team differently from the manner previous coach Layne Anderson used.
“[Hasenbank] is more [focused] on intervals,” Michael Melchert said. “Other coaches were like, ‘Go off of feel, and you’ll hit the splits.’ ”
The runners still train the same way they have in the past, he said. They still use long runs and tempo workouts.
Melchert said this style feels natural for him.
“I did a lot of interval work in high school, so it’s just the same thing over again,” he said.
Wilberding surprised everyone, including herself
The senior took home first place in the women’s 3,000 meters. She said this was not something she expected to do, especially in the first meet of the year.
“I was trying to go out and stay relaxed,” the senior said. “When I got to 2,000 meters, I thought this would be a good place to speed up and see where I can go.”
The fans were just as surprised as Wilberding.
At the previous Hawkeye Invitational, the Troy, Michigan, native placed 15th, but more than 30 seconds behind first place.
In 2015, Wilberding was a consistent finisher for the Hawkeyes but not the main factor. Waymire was Iowa’s top finisher in all six meets last season, and many predicted that trend to continue on Sept. 2.
Wilberding’s time elevated her to sixth all-time in Hawkeye history in the 3,000.
Iowa needed to prove it possessed athletes who could compete alongside Waymire and boost the scoring. Wilberding’s efforts were instrumental in the team victory and did just that.
Iowa’s balance, consistency leads the way
Scoring balance was an issue for both the men’s and women’s teams last season, whether that was getting a decent size group to finish similarly or getting that group to place in the top 20.
Unlike previous meets, in which one or two runners would finish in the top 20 and the rest would be scattered, the Hawkeye Invitational told a different tale.
Wilberding’s first-place finish was major, but six runners who placed within the top 30. To put that into perspective, no other team had more than five runners to do so, and the point total reinforces this.
The Hawkeyes scored 47 points, while the next best (Creighton) totaled 79.
On the men’s side, things looked similar
All seven scorers finished in the top 27, six of whom placed in the top 19. The balance was key.
While the women were helped by a first-place finish, the men were not so lucky. Melchert was the best Hawkeye at sixth.
From there, a strong group consisting of senior Ben Anderson, sophomore Ian Eklin, sophomore Daniel Soto, and freshman Luke Sampson grabbed four spots in the top 10-16 places, a true pack-running display.