The Iowa track and field team will travel to Geneva, Ohio, for the Big Ten Indoor Championships this weekend as the men’s team looks to win its third straight conference title.

The women’s team is looking to rally behind its third-ranked 60-meter hurdles team in the nation and push for the team’s first ever conference title.

The event will be held at Spire Institute, kicking off at 9:40 a.m. on Friday with the heptathlon and concluding at 4:10 p.m. on Saturday with the women’s 4×400-meter relay.

The men’s team is looking to three-peat, winning teams titles in 2021 and 2022. The women’s team finished third and sixth, respectively, in those two years. This week, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association ranked the Iowa men’s team first in the Big Ten and the women’s team fifth.

“We always know that we’re expected to be one of the best programs in the country,” Iowa director of track and field Joey Woody said. “If they’re mentally, physically, and emotionally fresh, I think then they’re going to perform at their best, and that’s going to give us the best shot to win a team title.”

Woody calls this time of year “trophy-hunting season.”

“I use the word execute,” he said. “That’s really what it comes down to, to execute the things that we’ve been doing all year, and I think we’ll come out on top.”

Sophomore sprinter Jenoah McKiver will try to defend his 600-meter title, which he won at last year’s championships. He also won the men’s 4×400-meter relay alongside sophomore Everett Steward, junior Armando Bryson, and senior Julien Gillum.

This weekend will be Gillum’s last run leading the Hawkeye men’s team at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.

“This one for me is pretty crazy,” he said. “It’s emotional because I know it’s my last one, so I just want to make sure I go out with a bang and make sure we bring the team to a win.”

Gillum, a hurdler, will run in the men’s 400-meter and 600-meter dashes this weekend.

“I’m pretty confident in both, but I’m trying to stand out in the [400-meter dash] more so I can make the national team,” Gillum said. “That’s been my goal since I got here.”

The USTFCCCA ranked the Iowa men’s team fourth in the 60-meter hurdles, fifth in the 60-meter dash, and fifth in the 200-meter dash in the nation.

Junior multi-event athlete Austin West will open competition for the Hawkeyes in the men’s heptathlon. He finished second in the event at last year’s championships, and teammate and fellow junior multi-event athlete Payton Haack won it in 2021.

“The last 1,000 [meter race] I have historically been pretty good at,” West said. “That’s a nice card to play at the end with it being the last event and knowing that I’m always fairly confident when that rolls around.”

The USTFCCCA also ranked the women’s team third in the 60-meter hurdles, fourth in the shot put, and fifth in the weight throw in the nation.

Junior hurdler Paige Magee, who won the women’s 60-meter hurdles in 2021 and finished sixth last year, does not see this year as a revenge tour — she’s having fun and knows the results will come.

“It’s still about doing business and stuff, but having been there before and experiencing two different kinds of competitions at that meet, I feel like I’m able to walk a little bit lighter with open hands,” she said.

Magee will run alongside freshman Natalie Harris and juniors Tionna Tobias, Katie Petersen, and Myreanna Bebe — who set the team record in the women’s 60-meter hurdles at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational earlier this season.

RELATED: Iowa track and field hurdler Myreanna Bebe’s improved mentality yields 60-meter hurdle record

“Our group is very tight-knit, and we’re on each other’s necks but in a good way,” Magee said. “We’re going to have a couple girls in the heat with each other, and we’re going to be able to push each other and those PRs [will] fall.”

Senior thrower Amanda Howe is confident in the throwing squad this weekend.

“We’ve had some great momentum coming in these past few meets leading up,” she said. “This is the first time that I’ve been here where the group as a whole looks very strong mentally and emotionally [and is] ready to just go out there and kill it.”

Howe sits just outside of the nation’s top 16 who make the cut for the women’s weight throw event at the NCAA championships, so her goal is to throw over 22 meters and qualify.

“I like when people underestimate me because it makes me more excited to go out there and just prove everybody wrong and show them what I am capable of,” Howe said. “People really shouldn’t be cutting me out just yet because we’re not done.”

Iowa throws coach Ray Robinson echoed the words of Woody: execute.

“I think everybody’s capable of producing a PR, which is what you want at the Big Ten championship meet, and then let the cards fall where they may,” Robinson said. “We’ve just got to show up and execute and do what we know how to do and trust in our training and trust in ourselves. As long as we’re confident, which we have no reason not to be confident, we’re going to be good.”