Hawkeye women’s track set for second road test
Iowa will travel to Ames and Fayetteville, Arkansas, in an attempt to keep its impressive streak of performances going.
Iowa’s Sheridan Champe, Brittany Brown, Briana Guillory, and Sarah Flock prepare for the 4×400 meter relay during the Larry Wieczorek Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2017.
February 7, 2019
The Hawkeye women’s track and field team stays on the road this weekend, as it travels to the Tyson Invitational hosted by Arkansas and the Iowa State Classic hosted by Iowa State.
After last weekend at the Frank Sevigne Invitational, the women’s team moved up 22 marks in the rankings to take position at the No. 15 spot. This spot marks the highest ranking that the Iowa women’s team has taken in program history.
The first athlete from Iowa and only the second woman from the Big Ten Conference indoor season, Laulauga Tausaga was named the National Athlete of the Week on Feb. 5.
In this file photo, Iowa freshman Laulauga Tausaga attempts a throw during the Border Battle indoor track meet in the UI Recreation Building with Iowa, Missouri and Illinois competing on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017. Tausaga won the National Championship in the discus on June 22 in Sacramento, California.
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She was recognized after her marks in the shot put and weight throw at the Frank Sevigne Invitational. Tausaga launched a throw of 23.26 meters in the weight throw, winning the event, hitting a new school record, and becoming the top NCAA athlete in the event. She also posted a mark of 16.25 meters in the shot put to win the event. She gained the Most Valuable Performer in the women’s division on top of her already impressive holdings.
The women’s team currently has five athletes in the top 15 of the NCAA rankings.
Tausaga is in the first-place position for the weight throw (23.26) as well as No. 15 for the shot put (16.70). Tria Simmons took third place last weekend in the pentathlon with 4,220 points, along with Kimbro in the ninth-place position with 4,123 points. Briana Guillory sits in the fourth-place spot for her time in the 400 meters (52.67).
In the Big Ten Conference, 11 marks are held in the top of the rankings. Tausaga again in first place for the weight throw and fifth place in the shot put.
In first and third-place positions for the pentathlon are Simmons and Kimbro, respectively. They also share the No. 2 position in the high jump (1.78 meters) and the 60-meter hurdles (8.27).
Guillory holds the first-place mark in the 400 meters as well as fourth place in the 600 meters (1:30.92). In the long jump, Amanda Carty remains in third (6.16) as well as the triple jump (12.84). Aubrianna Lantrip also hits a spot in the high jump (1.76), taking the fourth-place spot.
The women’s team also contains 11 athletes in the top all-time marks for Iowa, including Tausaga with the records in weight throw and shot put, Simmons and Kimbro with the first and second positions in the pentathlon, and Kimbro again at No. 2 in the 60-meter hurdles.
The Hawkeyes are halfway through the indoor season as they take on their second meet on the road. Iowa will hit the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame on Feb. 16 before things start to heat up.
After heading to South Bend, the Hawkeyes will find themselves in the thick of the championship season, with the Big Ten Championsips on Feb. 22-23 and the NCAA Championships March 8-9.
