By Carter Melrose
Both the Iowa men’s and women’s track teams competed in the Big Ten Indoor Championships in Geneva, Ohio, this past weekend. Like many times this season, the Hawkeyes had huge ups and downs.
In the first day of the Big Tens, 11 Hawkeyes qualified, putting the women in 11th place and the men in a prime-time spot of sixth place.
“We’re always a last-day team,” Iowa Director of Track and Field Joey Woody said in a release. “We expect to have athletes to make the final. We have two in the final in the 60 meters, two in the 60-meter hurdles, two in the 400 meters, one in the 800 meters, and more. There are still a lot of points to be had.”
The Hawkeyes who made the most of their spotlight on the first day were junior Brittany Brown in the 200 meters and the squad of junior Carter Lilly, sophomore DeJuan Frye, senior Adam Jones, and freshman Matt Manternach in the men’s distance-medley relay. The Hawkeyes produced a school record in these events. Brown in the 200 meters ran 22.79, fourth-best in the nation.
“I had a really good practice, and then my coach was going to say something, and I stopped him,” Brown said in a release. “He said, ‘You know what that means,’ and I said that what’s known doesn’t have to be said, but it’s been a long time coming.”
Also on the first day, Jahisha Thomas continued to showoff her top-notch leaping prowess by hitting top 3 in the long jump.
The second day was catalyzed with a huge point surge for both squads, beginning with explosive senior Aaron Mallett breaking his school record in the 60-meter hurdles and winning, giving him back-to-back Big Ten titles in the event.
“I came in here with one goal, and that was to get points for my team,” he said in a release. “To do it against a field like this again is a blessing. We have been putting in a lot of work, and to repeat in any conference is difficult, and then to run the third-fastest time in the country was a lot of fun.”
Brown didn’t look back as she won the Big Ten title in the 200 meters. Also, Will Dougherty broke his own heptathlon record and placed third.
Then came the relays, and the men’s 4×400-meter relay — the event everyone was waiting for. The race didn’t disappoint Hawkeye fans; the always-improving team of Mar’yea Harris, Emmanuel Ogwo, Collin Hofacker, and Frye thrashed their own record while taking home second place, an occurrence that Ogwo predicted weeks before.
“I think we can drop another second this season at Big Tens,” Ogwo said. “I think we can break the record we just set.”
Harris said running their fastest time in a championship meet was nearly the best.
“This feels great,” he said in a release. “It means that I made history, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. I wish we could have won, but we are going to go to nationals and win there.”
The team gets a week break before competing in the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas, on March 10-11.