Iowa track and field will head to the 2022 Big Ten Indoor Championships this weekend.

The Hawkeyes will compete at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, beginning at 9:50 a.m. Friday on BTN+.

Iowa competed in its final meets of the indoor regular season at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Indiana, and the Badger St. Valentine Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, last weekend.

Iowa director of track and field Joey Woody said he only sent a handful of competitors to the meets — throwers headed to Madison, while track athletes competed in South Bend.

“Some of our athletes, due to injury and illness, missed a few meets throughout the season,” he said. “Normally we don’t have many athletes competing the last weekend prior to Big Tens, but I felt this would be a good chance to lock in their race rhythms.”

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Following the meets on Feb. 19, Woody said he was impressed with the quality of competition heading into the championships.

“It was a great tune-up meet for us heading into the Big Ten Championship,” he said in a release Feb. 19. “[Several athletes] have made huge improvements over the last two weeks and secured big PRs.”

The Hawkeye women are ranked third in the Midwest region of the most recent U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Rating Index and placed third at the 2021 Big Ten Indoor Championships.

The Hawkeye men, ranked No. 8 nationally and first in the Midwest in the USTFCCCA Rating Index, head into the meet as reigning Big Ten Indoor Champions. In 2020-21, Iowa captured its first men’s Big Ten Indoor Championship title since 1963.

This weekend’s meet stands as the only remaining competition prior to the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11-12 in Birmingham, Alabama. The Hawkeyes will have a two-week hiatus between the conference and national meets.

As the Hawkeyes draw closer to the NCAA Championships, Woody thinks his men’s 4×400 relay team can lead the nation.

“We think they’re capable of cutting a second or two off of each team’s time,” he said of the group. “I personally think the men will have a solid chance at winning the national championship in that event.”

The Hawkeye men currently boast the No. 1-ranked 400-meter group in the conference with a time of 3 minutes and 2.4 seconds, set at the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 11. The men’s group consists of juniors Wayne Lawrence and Julian Gillum and freshman Jenoah McKiver and Chadwick Richards.

The quartet ranks second in the nation with a time of 3:02.40, trailing only Florida.

Lawrence, a four-time All-American, and McKiver highlight the fastest group in the Big Ten averaging 46.20 seconds per race.

McKiver also leads the Big Ten in the individual 400-meter race with a time of 45.39 seconds.

In Ohio, he will compete alongside freshman Chadrick Richards (No. 9 in the 400-meter), Julien Gillum (No. 46), and Lawrence (No. 21) in the event.

The Hawkeye women’s 4×400 relay team — consisting of seniors Payton Wensel and Mallory King, junior Mariel Bruxvoort, and freshman Tesa Roberts — also lead the Big Ten with a time of 3:32.38. The Hawkeye women broke Iowa’s program record, and ranked seventh in the NCAA with that time.