Iowa track and field set for Big Ten Florida Invitational

The Hawkeyes will travel to Jacksonville, Florida, this weekend to compete in the Big Ten Florida Invitational.

Jamal Britt finishes his leg of the 4x400m relay premier during the second day of the Larry Wieczorek Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021 at the University of Iowa Recreation Building. Britt ran a split of 48.375, contributing to the Iowa ‘A’ team victory with a total time of 3:09.58. Due to coronavirus restrictions, the Hawkeyes could only host Big Ten teams. Iowa men took first, scoring 189, and women finished third with 104 among Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Illinois.

Lauren Swanson, Sports Reporter
April 1, 2021

The University of Iowa track and field teams are traveling to Jacksonville, Florida, to compete in the Big Ten North Florida Invitational this Friday and Saturday. The competition begins Friday at 8:30 a.m. with the women’s hammer throw. Saturday’s action will start at 8 a.m. (C.T.) with the men’s discus.

The Hawkeye women enter the event ranked No. 26 in the country per the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s March 29 rating index. The No. 26 national ranking is the second-highest among Big Ten Conference women’s track and field teams.

The Hawkeye men are currently rated No. 45 in the nation and No. 2 in the Midwest. Iowa’s No. 45 national ranking is tops in the Big Ten.

Among the athletes competing this weekend are senior thrower Serena Brown and junior hurdler Jamal Britt.

Brown was a student athlete at Texas A&M before transferring to Iowa in spring 2020.

After her years competing for the Aggies, the New Providence, Bahamas, native felt as though it was the best decision for her to transfer.

“When it comes down to why I decided to train at Iowa specifically, I never had the opportunity to have somebody push me during practices at Texas A&M,” Brown said. “It was always, when I got to a meet, I would know that I would have to have competition. I wanted a change of pace where I could have somebody to push me at me. Now that I am at Iowa, the practices really help me chase my goals.”

Since joining Iowa director of track and field Joey Woody’s program, Brown has yet to regret her decision to transfer.

“This group has been really nice to me,” Brown said. “We’re like a family right now. I didn’t really get to get close with them last year because of COVID-19, but after coming back, we’ve all been getting along really well.”

Britt enters this weekend’s event fresh off career bests in the 110-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash at Big Ten Invitational No. 1.

Britt won the 110-meter hurdles at last week’s event with a time of 13.68 — a mark that ranks No. 2 in the NCAA West Region and sixth all-time in Hawkeye history.

“I got a PR for both the 110 hurdles and the 200, which was exciting,” Britt said. “There’s always something else I want to work on, though. But it was a great feeling to finally be outdoors last week.”

This weekend in Florida, Britt aims to build on his performance at Big Ten Invitational No. 1 last week.

“For this week, I hope to be more aggressive than last week,” Britt said. “I’m also hoping to open up in the 400-meter hurdles after two years of not running, so hopefully I do good in that as well. I want to at least execute, do well, and just go out there and have fun.”

Live event results will be available throughout the weekend on Adkins Trak Timing Associates’ website, adkinstrak.com.