The Iowa track and field team will head south once again this weekend for LSU’s Battle on the Bayou on Saturday. It’ll be the third weekend of competition in the outdoor season.
The U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association rankings have the Iowa men ranked 26th in the nation, and the women ranked 35th. The same poll had the teams ranked 41st and 34th in the preseason, respectively.
The Hawkeyes currently lead nine events in the Big Ten: Brittany Brown in the 200 meters (22.83 seconds), Andrea Shine in the 10,000 meters (33:50.25), Nathatn Mylenek in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (8:48.66), Jahisha Thomas in the triple jump (13.04 meters), Laulauga Tausaga in the discus (57.33 meters), Jenny Kimbro in the heptathlon (5,164 points), Will Dougherty in the decathlon (7,222 points), the women’s 4×100 meter relay (44.44 seconds), and the men’s 4×400 meter relay (3:04.38).
Shine’s 10,0000 meters mark ranks 15th in the nation and is third in school history.
“Her event is the 10K, so we were seeing huge chunks of time being lopped off of races that aren’t her specialty,” Iowa distance coach Randy Hasenbank told Hawkeye Sports. “I had a good feeling and she was confident that she could run a fast 10K time.”
The men’s 4×400 relay team, which includes Mar’yea Harris, DeJuan Frye, Collin Hofacker, and Bradford Garron, is third in the nation. That team took third at the Big Ten indoor championships with a time of 3:05.33.
Brown’s 200 meters mark, which she ran at the Willie Williams Invitational in Arizona, is fourth in the nation.
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Reno Tuufuli, albeit not a Big Ten leader, is fifth in the nation in the discus.
Four former Hawkeyes hold track records at LSU: Matt Byers in the Javelin in 2011, Troy Doris in the triple jump in 2012, Jeffery Herron in the high jump in 2012, and Erik Sowinski in 800 meters in 2012.
Both the men and the women of LSU are ranked in the top 10, according to USTFCCA. The women are fifth and the men are 10th.
Other Big Ten foes will be competing at LSU this weekend, including Purdue and Penn State. Other top-tier teams such as Oregon and USC will also be competing.
The last time the Iowa track and field team faced off against the Tigers was at the Larry Wieczorek Invitation in Iowa City during the indoor season. The Hawkeyes shone at the event, taking home both 4×400 relays and announcing their arrival on a national stage.
“It’s always important to put up big performances early in the season because it shows you are heading in the right direction and setting yourself up for the postseason,” Iowa director of track and field Joey Woody told Hawkeye Sports. “We talked at the beginning of the outdoor season. The more we focus on getting our numbers up in the national qualifiers, the better we will do at NCAAs and Big Tens.”
After LSU, the Hawkeyes will return to Iowa City for the first home meet of the outdoor season. The Musco Twilight XIX will take place on April 14.
