January was good to the Iowa track and field team; it served as roughly the first half of the indoor season and was filled with improved team rankings and shattered personal and school records.
February will be as vital to the team’s success, and it will be less comfortable. After all, the team’s first few meets — the Hawkeye Invitational, Larry Wieczorek Invitational, and Black and Gold Premier — were all at home.
There will be weekends when the team is split, such as this weekend. Some will go to Notre Dame, while others Nebraska. The team won’t compete at home again until the outdoor season in the spring.
The Hawkeyes took advantage of their early meets in friendly territory. They opened up strong at the Hawkeye Invitational, their stars shone in the Larry Wieczorek Invitational, and the younger competitors impressed fans and the coaches in the Black and Gold Premier.
“We had the [Black and Gold Premier] for some of our younger athletes to gain more confidence,” Iowa Director of Track and Field Joey Woody said. “A lot of the athletes who didn’t compete this weekend needed a week to recover, and some of the other athletes — they just need to keep racing.”
The Black and Gold Premier also presented an opportunity for bigger names such as Jahisha Thomas, who competed for the first time after being injured.
Thomas didn’t take long to make her mark, setting a school record in the triple jump (13.11 meters).
“I’ve been working on it, so I knew something was brewing,” she said. “That wasn’t even my full approach. I know bigger things are going to happen. But I’ve got my rhythm down.”
Thomas ranks first in the Big Ten in the triple jump.
Iowa’s most prominent athletes have posted great numbers in the first half of the season, and many did so against top talent in the Wieczorek Invitational.
Mar’Yea Harris raced against two of the top runners in the world in the 400 meters — Fred Kerley and AJ Bailey — and finished in 46.50 seconds. The 4×400 relay team also triumphed to a dramatic victory after his outstanding comeback performance as the anchor.
“Personally, I’ve always looked up to [Bailey and Kerley],” Harris said. “To be able to compete with the best means a lot to me.”
Laulauga Tausaga, the All-American thrower for Iowa, also shot up the school record books at the beginning of the indoor season.
Tausaga’s 16.01 meter shot put at the Black and Gold Premier set a school record, breaking her own former best and previous mark from the Wieczorek Invitational. She threw a mark of 15.87 meters there, when she originally became broke a school record that had stood since 1985.
“I have a sense of urgency because I want to make sure I can score at Big Tens and have the ability to score team points,” Tausaga told Hawkeye Sports. “If I can score for my team, then it means I am meeting my personal goals as well.”
After the Wieczorek Invitational, the Hawkeyes had a plethora of athletes in the NCAA’s top 10 in their events: Brianna Guillory in the 200 and 400, Willy Dougherty in the heptathlon, Mar’Yea Harris in the 400, Brittany Brown in the 200, Jenny Kimbro in the pentathlon, Chris Douglas in the 60-meter hurdles, and both the men’s and women’s 4×400 relay teams.
