The Hawkeye men’s and women’s track and field squads are preparing for the first meet of the year on Dec. 2, aiming to set the tone for a season of Big Ten conference dominance and NCAA qualifications.
Last year, the Iowa men’s and women’s teams placed third in the conference.
Historically, the programs excel in the indoor Big Ten Championships. In 2021 and 2022, the men were crowned back-to-back conference champions. Both the men’s and women’s teams placed third at the conference tournament in February.
As for the NCAA Championships, the Hawkeyes qualified five athletes in last year’s indoor meet. Fourth-year Myreanna Bebe qualified in the women’s 60-meter hurdles and the men sent a quartet of athletes to compete in various events. The three returning qualifiers include fourth-years Grant Conway in the 60-meter hurdles and Peyton Haack and Austin West in the heptathlon.
Amid these accomplishments, the Hawkeyes also managed to make school history.
During 2022 and 2023, many Hawkeyes landed themselves in the top 10 all-time best performances in Iowa history. Forty-three new top-10 times were set last season.
Men’s school records
In the sprints, fourth-year Kalen Walker holds the best 60-meter race time with 6.61. Fellow fourth-year Austin Kesley ranks close behind with a second-best performance of 6.64.
Fourth-year Jenoah McKiver claimed the top times in the 400-meter and 600-meter races as a Hawkeye before transferring to Florida.
Third-year distance runner Max Murphy has contributed to the second, third, and fourth all-time fastest distance medley relays. He also had the third-best performance in the 3,000-meter race and 5,000-meter race with a time of 7:59.30 and 13:58.87, respectively.
Fourth-year Austin West is returning with Iowa’s second-best heptathlon performance of 5,965 points and the sixth-furthest long jump.
For the women
Fourth-year Paige Magee returns to the Hawkeyes as the second best 60-meter hurdler in school history with a time of 8.13. She also boasts the fourth-best 200-meter race performance at Iowa.
As for field events, fourth-year Tionna Tobias ranks third in Iowa history with a jump of 6.14 meters. Fellow fourth-year Kat Moody also made Hawkeye history with a shot put of 16.64 meters.
Last year, fourth-year Alli Bookin-Nosbisch broke the school record in the indoor 800-meter race with a time of 2:04.28. In the 600-meter race, Alli Bookin-Nosbisch achieved the sixth-best Iowa performance in 1:28.89.
The fastest distance medley in Iowa history with a time of 11:15.07 was run by returning fourth-years Alli Bookin-Nosbisch, Tesa Roberts, Grace Bookin-Nosbisch, and Amber Aesoph.
“Those records were really cool, and I’m just excited to see what happens this year,” Bookin-Nosbisch said. “I think everyone on the team keeps pushing the bar. I know records are going to go down this year.”
