By Jacob Miller
The Iowa track and field team will part ways and compete in two meets this weekend.
Mainly sprinters and hurdlers will head to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to compete in the Tyson Invitational. The distance runners and some sprinters will compete in the Iowa State Classic in Ames. This is not an unusual for teams as they near the end of the indoor season.
“It’s kind of unique, but teams across the country do the same thing that we’re doing,” said Joey Woody, the Iowa director of track and field. “We’re sending most of our sprinters, and hurdlers, and jumpers down to Arkansas and even a couple of our throwers. It’s just an elite-level meet, it’s a great meet for the sprints, and the jumps in particular.”
Tyson will favor the sprinters because it also features a banked track similar to the one Iowa practices on every day. The Iowa State Classic favors distance runners because it is an oversize track, just like what the Hawkeyes competed on last weekend at the Meyo Invitational.
The Big Ten Championship is held on an oversize track, so this will allow the Hawkeyes to be better prepared. Junior Carter Lilly set the school record in the 800 meters on an oversize track last weekend at the Meyo. The Iowa State Classic will be a great opportunity for him to get an even faster time, especially because he had a lighter week of practice.
“It’s going to be another lighter week just to stay fresh for this and run fast again,” Lilly said. “It’s going to be a really fast heat. I think I’ll actually be the slowest PR in the heat, so hopefully just go out there, and compete, and hopefully beat some of the best people in the nation.”
Another Hawkeye at the other end of the spectrum who wants to make some noise is junior Jahisha Thomas. This weekend, she will go up gainst some of her toughest competition yet.
“I know that it’s going to be top competition,” she said. “I know I’m going to have to bring it, everything I have, and I’m going to see what I can do in the height of really fast people, like top nation people, so I’ll see how I adapt to that situation.”
Both Lilly and Thomas will run against some of the nation’s best, even though they will be competing at different venues — Lilly in Ames, Thomas in Fayetteville. The invitational will be arguably the best competition that Iowa will face all season. This meet will allow the Hawkeyes to assess themselves and see where they are as they get closer to the Big Ten meet.
“The competition is going to be some of the best competition that we’ll face throughout this entire season,” Woody said. “There’s a lot of SEC and ACC teams that’ll be there, and teams from across the country go there to try to run fast.”