Iowa track and field to compete on flat track at Meyo Invitational
The Hawkeyes will face off against nine other programs at Notre Dame this weekend.
Iowa’s Jenoah McKiver leads the pack during the men’s 600-meter premiere run at the 2022 Larry Wieczorek Invitational track and field meet at the University of Iowa Recreation building on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. McKiver placed first with a time of 1:16.08, setting a school record, a meet record, and a facility record. The Larry Wieczorek Invitational hosted Baylor, Gonzaga, Mount Mercy, the University of Northern Iowa, Purdue, Wartburg and the University of Wisconsin.
February 3, 2022
The Iowa men’s and women’s track and field program will travel to Indiana this weekend to compete in Notre Dame’s Meyo Invitational.
The meet is the first of two times the Hawkeyes will head to South Bend this indoor season. The events will start at 11:30 a.m. Friday at Notre Dame’s Meyo Field in the Loftus Sports Center.
Iowa will compete against nine other squads at the invitational: Notre Dame, Indiana, Illinois, Louisville, Miami (FL), Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Rutgers.
The Iowa men’s track and field team will enter the invitational as No. 1 in the Midwest Region in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Poll this week. The Hawkeye men slid down one spot to No. 10 in the national team rankings in this week’s poll.
Despite the slight drop in the rankings, Iowa director of track and field Joey Woody said he’s seen improvement from all his athletes — especially the Hawkeyes’ meet in Arkansas last week.
“Overall as a team, we stepped up and got some good things done across all the event groups,” Woody said. “We had some really impressive performances, which is exactly what we want to see as we head into the final few weeks of preparation for the Big Ten and NCAA Indoor Championships.”
“We feel really good about where we’re at as a program right now,” Woody added.
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The Meyo Invitational will provide the Hawkeyes with an opportunity to face off against some familiar faces, as six Big Ten rivals will participate.
“There’s a lot of Big Ten teams competing this weekend, and we haven’t seen a lot of Big Ten schools yet this season,” Woody said. “Now we get a chance to go head-to-head against some conference competition, and our athletes are very excited. We’re really looking forward to it.”
The track and field program was originally slated to split up, with half of the Hawkeyes attending Nebraska’s Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, but Iowa took that meet off its schedule.
“We usually do a split-squad this weekend, but we won’t be doing that this time,” Woody said. “We are only taking our competitors to Notre Dame.”
Woody said four-time All-American sprinter Wayne Lawrence will return to the 400-meter race this weekend — an event he won at last season’s Big Ten Indoor Championships. Lawrence will join Hawkeye Jenoah McKiver, the current Big Ten leader in the event.
This weekend’s meet will also offer the Hawkeyes a reprieve from running on a bank track, which is raised in the corners.
Woody said Notre Dame’s flat track will provide Iowa’s athletes an opportunity to practice on the same type of surface they will compete on at the Big Ten Championships Feb. 25 and 26.
“Notre Dame has a flat, oversized track,” Woody said. “And after four consecutive weekends on a bank track, we’re excited to get a chance to open it up on the flat surface.”