The Larry Wieczorek Invitational on Jan. 19-20 was anything but just another indoor track meet. The Recreation Building was host to a raucous crowd on Jan. 20, one that packed nearly every available seat in the facility.
The Iowa track and field team joined a plethora of schools to put on a show. The other schools were Arizona, Minnesota, Florida State, LSU, Kansas State, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Iowa State.
Iowa All-American Mar’yea Harris competed against two of the best in the world — Fred Kerley and A.J. Bailey — in the 400. He finished with a time of 46.5 seconds, good for the seventh-fastest time in the world and first in the Big Ten.
While he shone in the event, Harris was far from done.
In the men’s final 4×400-meter relay, Harris received the baton trailing two runners by what looked to be an insurmountable lead. Coming around the last curve, Harris kicked into a new gear and passed the LSU runner at the very last second to take home the final event for Iowa.
“I knew the LSU guy was fast. If I kicked too early, they may try to get me at the end, so I settled in behind,” Harris said. “Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, I still feel good,’ and I caught him at the end.”
Harris’ finish brought the crowd members to their feet, saving the climax for the last possible tick.
Larry Wieczorek, the former Iowa track and field coach and eponym of the event, couldn’t imagine a better scene.
“After a long evening, there were still lots of people here and lots of people cheering,” he said. “I think it’s good for the sport of track and field and the Iowa track and field program. Even if you hadn’t been to a track and field event before, if you were here for an hour, you would’ve wondered what you were missing out on for all of these years.”
The meet also included 32 professional athletes. The headliner was Aries Merritt, a world-record holder and Olympic medalist in the 110-meter hurdles. Merritt enjoyed rounds of applause on numerous occasions and ran a time of 7.54 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, good enough for second in the world and first in the country.
Former Hawkeye Aaron Mallett finished second behind Merritt with a time of 7.7 seconds.
Georganne Moline, another veteran of the 2012 Olympics, became the new world leader in the 400 meters, winning the event with times of 51.94 seconds and 52.35 seconds.
Former Hawkeye and Olympian Troy Doris won the triple jump with at 16.35 meters.
Track, facility, meet, and world records were shattered throughout the invitational.
For Iowa, Laulauga Tausaga once again shot up the record books. Last week at the Hawkeye Invitational, she moved from sixth to third all time in Iowa history for the shot put with a throw of 15 meters. On Jan. 20, she set the school record in the shot put with a throw of 15.87 meters. The previous mark had stood since 1985.
William Dougherty won the heptathlon with a school record of 5,572 points, putting him fifth in the NCAA.
The Iowa men took home first in the event, and the women placed third.
“I couldn’t have scripted the event better — the way the women’s and men’s 4×400 events finished,” Hawkeye Director of Track and Field Joey Woody said. “This was my dream and my vision, and everyone supported it. I can’t say enough about that.”
The Hawkeyes’ next meet is the Black and Gold Premier at the Recreation Building on Jan. 27.