The Iowa track and field team registered three school records in one weekend as the Hawkeyes split across the country from March 30 to April 1.

The distance runners traveled to California for the Stanford-hosted Stanford Invite in Palo Alto and the San Francisco State-hosted Mike Fanelli Track Classic in San Francisco.

The long sprinters and mid-distance runners went east for the Florida-hosted Florida Relays in Gainesville, and the short sprinters, jumpers, and throwers went south to the Texas-hosted Texas Relays in Austin and Texas State-hosted Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos.

Junior sprinter Austin Kresley was responsible for two of the new all-time Iowa marks, first joining juniors Kalen Walker, Damoy Allen, and Gratt Reed for the 4×100-meter relay. Together, they finished in 38.70 to secure the all-time record at Iowa in the event. He then branched off on his own for a 10.19 in the 100-meter dash.

Kresley said the relay performance was only a glimpse of the squad’s potential for this year, believing they can go even faster.

Looking back on his weekend, he said this was his breakout performance for the outdoor season.

“I saw the wind-legal mark at 10.19, [I was] like, ‘Yeah, I know I’m legit running these times,’” Kresley said. “I’m happy. I can’t be more excited for what’s left for the rest of the season.”

Sophomore distance runner Max Murphy finished the 5,000-meter race in 13:39.27, breaking the Iowa school record in the event by 10 seconds.

“I feel really good about just our overall weekend as a program,” Iowa director of track and field Joey Woody said. “Max, what he did in the [5,000-meter race] … I mean, that’s just a tremendous performance for him. He’s very confident right now.”

Senior jumper James Carter would have accounted for the fourth school record of the weekend, his 16.68-meter win in the triple jump initially breaking the previous Hawkeye record, but it was not wind-legal — meaning the tailwind illegally boosted his distance.

Record chasers continue

 After contributing to the 4×100-meter school record, Walker finished .001 seconds behind Kresley in the 100-meter dash, tying his personal record for second all-time at Iowa.

On the women’s side of the event, freshman sprinter Lia Love too moved to second all-time at Iowa with an 11.21 in the prelims, just .001 seconds behind teammate LaSarah Hargrove’s school-record time she turned in last season.

“I feel stronger than I have before,” Love said. “I’d say I’m satisfied, but there’s definitely some things I want to work on and get better at.”

Reed ran a 13.50 in the 110-meter hurdles for fifth all-time at Iowa.

The 4×800-meter relays brought jumps in the record books on both the women’s and men’s sides of the event. Sophomore Jaiden Itson and juniors Grace Bookin-Nosbisch, Clare Pitcher, and Katie More finished in 8:49.00 to move to fifth all-time at Iowa. Freshman Ryan Schreiner, sophomore Martin Strong, and juniors Armando Bryson and Spencer Gudgel finished in 7:26.00 for sixth in the Iowa record books.

The Iowa pair of senior Mariel Bruxvoort and junior Paige Magee both qualified for the 400-meter hurdles final with a 57.18 — for sixth all-time at Iowa — and 57.49, respectively.

Three Iowa women ran the 400-meter dash, each with personal records. Junior Tesa Roberts ran a 52.95 for seventh in Hawkeye history, redshirt freshman Chloe Larsen ran a 53.64 for ninth in Hawkeye history, and freshman Audrey Biermann ran a 53.69 — just missing putting her name on the top-10 list at 11th all-time at Iowa.

Biermann got redemption when she joined Larsen, Roberts, and Itson in the 4×400-meter relay with a 3:35.17 that puts them fifth all-time at Iowa.

In the field, freshman Mike Stein threw a personal-record 68.01 meters in the men’s javelin for fourth in Iowa history.

Looking forward 

The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association ranked the Iowa men’s team 12th and women’s team 17th in the country in its most recent poll.

Woody said the rankings and multiple breakthroughs in the Iowa all-time record books over the weekend indicate that his team is in a good spot, even with multiple runners still waiting to begin their outdoor seasons.

“I think we still have some opportunities to continue to improve these next couple of weeks,” Woody said. “It’s a good sign of, I think, the type of program we are. [We’ve] just got to continue to improve and stay healthy, and I think we’ll see a continued improvement throughout the season.”

While the majority of the team will take a week off from competition to train and rest, a handful of short hurdlers and sprinters will travel to Champaign, Illinois, to compete in the Fighting Illini Challenge on April 8.

The big name there will be junior hurdler Myreanna Bebe, who will open up her outdoor season after winning the 60-meter hurdles at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 25.

“It’ll be a good, small meet for some of those athletes to get that experience but also continue to progress their season,” Woody said. “But Myreanna is probably the big name that hasn’t opened up yet, so we’re looking for a good performance out of her, and then [we’ll] build from there.”

For those remaining in Iowa City, this week may look like a light week, but Love says practice will be harder than it is during a week with meets on the weekend.

“We’re just working on staying mentally focused and making sure that we put in good training when we know we’re not competing so that it can carry over well into next week,” Love said, noting her focus is on beaking the 100-meter dash school record.

The following weekend, the team will split again across the country, but the focus remains on championship season in just over a month.

“This season will be a complete waste in the [4×100-meter dash] if we do not make the national finals,” Kresley said. “We need a breakthrough as a program and a sprint group to really set that down.”

Woody said being a top-20 team in the nation is the goal, but he believes the team can be top-10 and compete for a national title.

“It’s going to come down to us performing at our best and having our best athletes healthy at the end of the season,” Woody said. “If we are, I honestly believe we can be a trophy team.”