Iowa senior Aaron Mallett headed into the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in College Station, Texas, on March 10-11 with the potential to take home the big award, to stand on top of the 60-meter hurdle mountain and be able to look back at his final indoor race as a Hawkeye with great pride.

The one goal in a preliminary is to just do enough to make the finals. Mallett easily managed that with a time of 7.71, getting third in his heat and moving onto the finals, where he would have the opportunity to face freshman phenom Grant Holloway of Florida.

Mallett got off to a blazing start in the finals, heading for the finish. The hurdles then decided to intervene. Mallett’s foot snagged one of the last hurdles, resulting in a last-place finish. Holloway earned first.

“It is disappointing,” Director of Track and Field Joey Woody said. “He expects a lot more from himself. He tried to do too much; sometimes that helps you, sometimes that hurts, and today it hurt him. We will take this as motivation for outdoor season.”

Junior Brittany Brown, one of the only Hawkeye women who made the trip to Gilliam Indoor Stadium, earned her first indoor first-team All-American honor nod, finishing fifth in the 200 meters.

The Hawkeyes’ last event was the 4×400-meter relay. The squad of Emmanuel Ogwo, Collin Hofacker, DeJauan Frye, and Mar’yea Harris were riding high after a second-place finish in the Big Ten Championships a week earlier.

Though they were in contention for top three, the squad was only able to muster a fifth-place finish.

This marks the end of the indoor track and field season. The outdoor season will commence in Tempe, Arizona, this weekend. 

— by Carter Melrose