Senior Day is an emotional time. Four years, or in some cases longer, suddenly start to wind down as college eligibility runs its course. It’s a unique experience, and it’s something that will soon take over the UI campus.

Iowa track and field will host the 20th-annual Musco Twilight Invitational at the Cretzmeyer Track on Saturday in what will be the final regular-season home meet in the Black and Gold for the Hawkeye seniors.

Seventeen senior track and field athletes will be honored at the meet, and this crop of soon-to-be graduates is a bit more personal for Director of Track and Field Joey Woody.

“I took over as head coach five years ago, and I’ve been involved with recruiting on the last four classes,” Woody said. “So this is really the first senior group that I recruited and was actively involved with, and it’s been fun to see the development of our whole team because of that group.”

One member of this class is Tria Simmons, who has taken an unconventional path to being the athlete she is today.

Simmons was recruited as a triple jumper and long jumper and now is a Big Ten champion in the multi-events. On her path to becoming a champion, Simmons has figured out what it takes to be on top.

“Being an athlete, you work on being independent and finding yourself, working on time management,” she said. “There are a lot of things that you have to work through in order to be in a position to succeed, and being involved in the track program has helped me learn those things.”

With her time as a Hawkeye winding down, Simmons is still looking to achieve her ultimate goal.

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“Looking back, freshman year was a sort of warm-up year,” she said. “Now, as a senior, I’m trying to be a leader for this group and trying to work toward a Big Ten Championship.”

On the men’s side, Chris Douglas will be honored for his contributions to the program.

Douglas has developed into one of the best hurdlers in the country during his time at Iowa, and while he wasn’t always planning on becoming a Hawkeye, it’s a choice he can look back on fondly.

“I was originally committed to a Division-3 school,” Douglas said. “Iowa reached out after my senior year, and I switched. I’m not really sure if I would have been able to accomplish the things that I have if I went with my original plan.”

Beyond just picking up All-American honors or placing sixth at the national meet, Douglas sees the people he has come into contact with as the thing he will always remember about his time at Iowa.

“I’ve made friendships that I hope will last a lifetime,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot about myself as both an athlete and an individual, and I think this whole experience is something I wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere else.”

The meet is scheduled to begin at noon on Saturday with the seniors being honored at 4 p.m.

As those 17 seniors take the track for the last time in the regular season, Woody wants their legacy and impact on the program to be clear.

“We would not be ranked where we are as a program without what our seniors have done to get us here,” Woody said. “They have been the leaders; they have taken this program to a whole new level.”