By Adam Hensley
As Iowa gears up for its third cross-country meet of the season, both the men and women will attempt to run stride-for-stride with their recent success. Even though it’s early in the season, the Hawkeyes displayed improvement from their 2015 campaign, finishing in the top two spots in each of their meets and breaking into the Midwest Regional rankings.
Hawkeye cross-country coach Randy Hasenbank used Iowa’s regional rankings as preseason motivation for both squads — neither team cracked the top 15.
Until this season, both teams had been ranked in the preseason top 15 the past five years.
As far back as the regional preseason rankings go on the coaches’ website, Iowa has always started off the season ranked regionally. As of last season, the men and women started out seventh and 11th, respectively, and finished 15th and 19th.
Since 2011, that seventh-place ranking is the men’s best preseason mark. The women opened 2011 at third, their top mark. In the last five seasons, the men’s squad failed to finish better than seventh, and the women finished as high as fourth.
Last time Iowa cracked the top 30 nationally: Week 7 of 2011.
Looking at the national poll, the women last represented Iowa in 2011, coming in at 27th. They had been ranked for at least one week from 2005-11, ending the streak in 2012.
The men’s team hasn’t been so fortunate. Its last appearance in the national poll was Week 6 of 2006, under then head coach Larry Wieczorek. Their last time receiving votes to be ranked was Week 3 of 2009.
Through the early 2000s, Iowa commanded a presence at the national level. But since then, both the men and women have not been ranked at the same time since 2006.
Both teams average 52 points per meet.
In cross-country, the team with the fewest points wins. Given that both teams have finished first and second at some point during the first two competitions, the point total reflects their placing.
In the Hawkeye Invitational, the men finished second, scoring 60 points (a 27-point improvement on last year’s home-opener). The women (first place) improved by 18 points.
The gap between the 2016 Illinois State Invitational and the 2015 meet is even more dramatic. The men (first place) scored 36 points better, and the women (second place) demolished their 110-point finish last season with 57 points on Sept. 9.
Iowa’s doubled the number of its runners in the top-20 three times already.
At the 2015 Hawkeye Invitational, the men landed three runners in the top-20 spots. They scored six this season, four of whom finished in the top 15. Last season, three cracked the top 20.
Both teams doubled the number of runners at Illinois State. In 2015, the men landed three runners in the top 20, and the women scored two. The men’s six runners (five in the top 15) and the women’s four (three in the top 10) demonstrate what just a one-year difference can do for a team.
Also worthy of note — combined, both programs have doubled their number of top-10 finishes from a year ago in their first two meets. Ten Hawkeye runners cracked this mark versus five in 2015.