The Iowa track and field team is divided three ways for its second weekend of outdoor competition.
The multi-event athletes have already kicked off their action at the 91st Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, Texas, and the rest of the team will compete elsewhere.
Today, the distance runners will compete in the Stanford Invitational. The rest of the Hawkeyes will head to Gainseville, Florida, for the Pepsi Florida Relays on March 30 and March 31.
Heading into the weekend, the Hawkeyes have three Big Ten leaders and five athletes in the top five in the country.
Brittany Brown, Reno Tuufuli, and Antonio Woodard were all awarded Big Ten weekly honors after their performances in the Willie Williams Invitational in Arizona.
Brown leads the Big Ten in the 200 (22.83 seconds) after setting a facility record in Arizona in the first week of the outdoor season. That mark also ranks second in the nation.
Tuufuli is fourth in the nation in the discus after posting a mark of 58.95 meters in Arizona.
Woodard is first in the Big Ten and third in the nation in the 200 after running a personal best, 20.61 seconds, in Arizona.
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Laulauga Tausaga is also a Big Ten leader in the discus after her throw of 56.54 meters at the Willie Williams Invitational. That mark is also fifth in the country.
“One of the many things our team does well is feeding off of each other’s energy,” Woodard said. “When one person does well it’s like a domino effect for the rest of us.”
Leah Colbert, another standout in the first weekend of the outdoor season, will also head to the Pepsi Florida Relays. Her mark of 56.78 meters in the hammer throw was a personal best and also good for first place in Arizona.
“It is always fun to win, but I was definitely happier about the personal improvement,” Colbert said. “It had been a long time since I had seen improvement like that in a meet, and so it was a big thing I had to overcome. It felt so good to finally get there.”
Colbert and the Hawkeyes will hope to carry the momentum over from their impressive start to the season in Arizona.
“I’m excited to face some tougher competition and work to be more competitive in the field,” Colbert said.
When the Hawkeyes regroup after their time in Texas, Florida, and California, they’ll turn their focus to LSU’s Battle on the Bayou on April 7.