Multiple Hawkeyes earn all-conference honors at Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships
Hurdler Myreanna Bebe was the Hawkeyes’ sole conference champion as the men’s and women’s teams both finished third.
Iowa’s Myreanna Bebe leads the 60-meter hurdles during the 2022 Hawkeye Invitational track and field meet at the University of Iowa Recreation Building on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022. Bebe set a personal record with a time of 8.30 to put her No. 4 all-time for the Hawkeyes. The Hawkeye Invitational hosted Arkansas State, Bradley, Hawkeye Community College, Indian Hills Community College, Iowa Central Community College, Loyola-Chicago, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, UW-Milwaukee, and Western Illinois.
March 1, 2023
The Iowa men’s and women’s track and field teams finished third at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Saturday.
After winning in 2021 and 2022, the Iowa men’s team gathered 98 points to finish shy of Wisconsin’s first-place 110. Michigan won the women’s title, but the Iowa women’s team earned 85 points for an improvement from a 2022 sixth place finish.
“I thought they competed really well … [but] some things didn’t go our way,” Iowa director of track and field Joey Woody said. “Both the men and women have a little sour taste in their mouths because they know that we can perform good enough to win the team title … I think it’s just going to be extra motivation as we head to the outdoor season.”
Junior hurdler Myreanna Bebe was crowned Big Ten champion in the women’s 60-meter hurdles — the first in Hawkeye history — with a school-record 8.07, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors.
“She’s definitely excited about being a Big Ten champion,” Woody said. “That was a big thing for us to have our women’s first hurdle champion.”
Senior jumper James Carter Jr. earned two second-team All-Big Ten honors with second-place finishes in the long jump (7.76 meters) and triple jump (15.91 meters).
“I guess I’m proud of it,” Carter said. “Obviously, I wanted to get the victory and get the first-team [honors], but in life not everything goes as planned all the time, so you’ve just got to take it on the chin and roll with the punches.”
Woody called Carter “a gamer.”
“That guy steps up every time he’s in the championship and gets it done,” Woody said. “[He’s a] super confident guy, and that bleeds over to the rest of the group … I think that entire group’s just really starting to evolve into one of the best in the conference, and they’re definitely motivated to continue going.”
Sophomore sprinter Jenoah McKiver qualified for the men’s 600-meter final, winning the prelim with a time of 1:15.80. Junior mid-distance runner Spencer Gudgel also qualified with a time of 1:16.72 for a fourth-place finish to move to sixth all-time at Iowa.
McKiver, a two-time Big Ten champion in the 2022 indoor championships, seemed to have won the final with a collegiate record 1:14.27 that was the second-fastest time in world history — until he was disqualified for running on the line.
“I know he is frustrated with himself, but it also shows how good he is and how fit he is,” Woody said. “He’s just got to be a guy that stays healthy, and obviously it was a mental error on his part, and he’s going to have to fix that himself.”
Senior sprinter LaSarah Hargrove earned second-team all-Big Ten honors with her 23.37-second finish for second place in the women’s 200-meter dash. Junior mid-distance runner Tyler Olson did the same, running a 1:16.13 in the men’s 600-meter dash.
“To be able to come through and do what [Olson] did this weekend, that’s a tremendous story in itself,” Woody said. “He’s somebody that we need to look forward to outdoors because I think he can contribute in the 800 as well.”
Other successes
Iowa junior mid-distance runners Alli and Grace Bookin-Nosbisch joined junior sprinter Tesa Roberts and junior distance runner Amber Aesoph to break the Iowa all-time women’s distance medley record in 11:15.07 for a fifth-place finish.
On the men’s side of the distance medley, freshman mid-distance runner Brett Wasick, junior sprinter Evan Schuster, freshman mid-distance runner Ryan Schreiner, and sophomore distance runner Max Murphy moved to fourth all-time at Iowa with a time of 9:42.27.
Junior multi-event athlete Peyton Haack put up a pole vault of 5.15 meters for a spot in third all-time at Iowa.
In the women’s 200-meter dash, junior hurdler Paige Magee moved to fourth all-time at Iowa with a 23.46-second finish.
Gudgel rose to fourth all-time in the men’s 600-meter with a time of 1:16.51. Junior sprinter Aliyanna Dorn moved to seventh in Hawkeye history in the women’s 600-meter with a 1:29.03.
Freshman sprinter Audrey Biermann’s 53.28-second finish capped off her strong indoor freshman campaign as she moved to sixth all-time at Iowa in the women’s 400-meter.
Senior jumper De’Andre Stapleton Jr. jumped to sixth all-time in the triple jump with a 15.46-meter leap.
Looking forward
Bebe, Carter, Haack, junior hurdler Grant Conway, and junior multi-event athlete Austin West will travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the NCAA Championship on March 10-11.
The rest of the Hawkeyes will take next week off from competition before traveling to Miami, Florida, for the Hurricane Invitational on March 17-18 to kick off the outdoor season.
“I think we’re trending in the right direction,” Woody said. “We’re a better outdoor team … We’ve got some unfinished business at the NCAA Championships first, but I know the athletes that are in the outdoor events are really excited to get outside and show what we can do.”