Iowa women’s track and field continues to thrive on the road
Personal bests and new accomplishments were made by Iowa women’s track as the regular season begins to close.
Iowa’s Aly Weum competes in the Women’s 4×400 meter relay during the Larry Wieczorek Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2017. (Nick Rohlman/The Daily Iowan)
February 9, 2019
The Hawkeye women’s track and field traveled to Ames to compete in the Iowa State Classic and Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the Tyson Invitational over the weekend.
The team placed five new personal bests on Friday. Megan Schott set a best in the 5,000 meters (16:39.54) and Anna Hostetler did so in the 3,000 meters (9:35.10). Two new personal bests were made in the 400 meters by Aly Weum (55.31) and Daneisha Woodside (57.97). In the field events, Maria Gorham bested her previous high jump (1.66 meters).
Taking medals on the first day of the weekend, Nia Britt took third in the weight throw (18.14) and Aubrianna Lantrip placed third in the high jump (1.66).
“I think overall we made some progress today as a team,” Director of Track and Field Joey Woody said in a release. “It was awesome to see some of the great performances at Iowa State from our distance athletes.”
The second day of the weekend continued with five more personal bests by Hawkeye women. Sprinters put in work, as four of them bested their previous times in the 200 meters. Jada Laye was the fastest of the Hawkeyes (24.38), followed by Addie Swanson (25.06), Kylie Morken (25.25), and Payton Wensel (25.62). A personal best was also accomplished in the mile run by Macie Weber with a time of 5:04.99.
“We had a lot of personal bests in the women’s 200,” Woody said in a release. “I thought the women who competed on the 1,600-meter relay all did great without Briana Guillory,”
The 1,600-meter relay was run by Jenny Kimbro, Weum, Tria Simmons, and Wensel, coming in ninth place (3:37.94)
After being named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week after the Frank Sevigne Invitational last week, Laulauga Tausaga continued to work on her marks. This was awarded after her impressive throw of 23.26 meters in the weight throw to take the gold and hit a new school record, as well as a 16.25-meter throw in the shot put to win the event as well. She placed second in the shot put (16.61) on the second day of competition.
After last week, the women’s team moved up 22 spots in the rankings, taking the team up to No. 15. This marks the highest ranking that the women’s team has taken in program history.
The Hawkeyes will continue on the road as they travel to the Alex Wilson Invitational hosted by Notre Dame for the final meet of the regular indoor season.
After the regular season commences, Iowa will travel to the Big Ten Championships at Michigan Feb. 22-23, followed by the NCAA Championships in Alabama on March 8-9.
