Nine Hawkeye track and field athletes earn All-American honors

The NCAA adopted new criteria for determining All-Americans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Jenna Galligan

Iowa thrower Laulauga Tausaga competes in the women’s shot put premiere during the fourth annual Larry Wieczorek Invitational at the University of Iowa Recreation Building on Friday, Jan 17, 2020. Tausaga’s 16.72m throw earned her sixth place, behind five throwers who surpassed the previous meet record of 17.13m.

Robert Read, Sports Editor
May 26, 2020

Nine Iowa track and field athletes have earned All-American honors for the 2020 NCAA Division I Indoor season, the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced Tuesday.

Wayne Lawrence earned All-American honors in the 400 meters and the 4×400-meter relay. Lawrence won both the 200 (20.85 seconds) and 400 (45.56) meters at the 2020 Big Ten Indoor Championships. He also anchored the winning relay squad for the Hawkeyes. For his performance, Lawrence was named the Big Ten Male Track Athlete of the Big Ten Championships. The sophomore was later named the Big Ten Men’s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.

Raymund Clarke, DeJuan Frye, and Antonio Woodard were also honored as part of Iowa’s relay team.

Thrower Laulauga Tausaga was named an All-American in both the shot put and the weight throw. Tausaga earned the Big Ten Female Field Athlete of the Championships after winning the weight throw title (22.23 meters) and placing second in the shot put (17.37).

The senior was also named the 2020 Big Ten Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Year and the USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Female Field Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Jaylon McConico earned an All-American honor in the 60-meter hurdles after a record-breaking indoor season for the Hawkeyes. McConico won the Big Ten 60-meter hurdles championship with a time of 7.61 seconds, just off his school-record time of 7.60, which he set at the Tyson Invite earlier in the indoor season.

Will Daniels (heptathlon), Jenny Kimbro (pentathlon), and Mallory King (800 meters) also earned All-American honors.

Due to the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships, the NCAA Division I Track & Field Executive Committee adopted the following All-American criteria, according to the USTFCCCA:

  • Based on the post-medical scratches startlist for the national championships posted on Wednesday, March 11 at 9:24 p.m., local, the following will be recognized as All-America for the 2020 indoor track & field season:
    • Individual events: ALL student-athletes listed on the startlist for the anticipated event.
    • Relay events: The four student-athletes per anticipated relay who produced the performance that was declared and accepted into their event. Those listed as alternates will not be recognized.
    • There will not be a distinction of “first-team”, “second-team”, or “honorable mention” to these recognitions.