For months, the Iowa track and field program has vocalized its goal of capturing the 2024 Big Ten Indoor Championship title. The long-awaited weekend is quickly approaching, with competition Friday morning through Saturday evening.

Sprints

Fourth-year Kalen Walker is favored to give the Hawkeye men a quick start in the 60-meter sprint. Walker is going into the weekend with a personal best of 6.51, which is the best mark in the Big Ten and school history.

Fellow fourth-year Austin Kresley is ranked sixth.

In the same race for the women, third-year Lia Love’s best mark of 7.26 is ranked third in the conference. Second-year Holly Duax is 11th.

Love is the second seed in the 200-meter sprint with a personal best time of 23.46. Third-year hurdler Paige Magee follows right on Love’s heels, ranking third with a 23.69.

Fourth-year Gratt Reed has a chance to place in the 200-meter race as well. Reed’s mark of 20.89 at the Jarvis Scott Open gives him a fourth-place ranking going into the weekend.

Mid-distance

In the 400-meter race, five Hawkeyes have earned a top-10 rank: two men and three women.

First-year Josh Pugh and fourth-year Connor Belken are estimated to be fourth and fifth based on personal bests earned at the Tyson Invitational.

In the women’s 400-meter race, fourth-year Nylah Perry is ranked sixth, with third-year Chloe Larsen right behind. Second-year Audrey Biermann is ranked ninth.

The women also look to stack the 600-meter race with top performers.

Iowa women fill up four of the top 10 600-meter race spots. Larsen is ranked third, with fourth-year Alli Bookin-Nosbisch directly behind. Second-year Gabby Cortez and fourth-year Ali Dorn claim the sixth and seventh spots.

For the men, second-year Ryan Schreiner and fourth-year Nick O’Connor fill the ninth and 10th rankings in the 600-meter race with times of 1:17.91 and 1:18.13, respectively.

In the 800-meter race, Bookin-Nosbisch is expected to medal second for the women while third-year Rivaldo Marshall is ranked third for the men. Schreiner ranks ninth.

The 4×400-meter relays look strong for both the Iowa men and women.

The women are ranked first with a time of 3:34.68. The squad consists of Biermann, Magee, Larsen, and Perry.

The men claim the second spot just behind Penn State. The foursome of second-year Tyrese Miller, Belken, Pugh, and Marshall ran a best of 3:07.56 at the Tyson Invitational.

Hurdles

Though the distance races look quiet for the Hawkeyes, the hurdlers look to make some noise.

Magee comes into the championship meet with the top time of 8.00 in the 60-meter hurdles. Fourth-year Tionna Tobias is ranked third with 8.17.

For the men, fourth-year Grant Conway is seeded third. Close behind are teammates Reed in fifth and third-year Kalil Johnson in sixth.

Pentathlon and Heptathlon

Tobias has scored almost 100 more points in the pentathlon than any other woman in the Big Ten Conference. Her mark of 4049 will be the score to beat.

Wirth follows in fourth and fellow first-year Carlee Rochford is ranked seventh.

For the men’s heptathlon, second-year Sal Capaldo is also ranked seventh with a personal best score of 5256.

Field events

Rookies and veterans alike look to score points in the field events over the weekend.

First-year Annie Wirth is ranked eighth in the high jump with a leap of 1.76 meters.

Teammate Tobias is the third-best long jumper in the conference with a personal best of 6.41 meters.

In the triple jump, first-year Daniela Wamokpego is ranked second for the women with a jump of 13.24 meters. For the men, first-year Precious Irivi is coming in with the eighth-best triple jump of 15.10 meters.

The throwers round out the program with high rankings of their own.

Second-year Sean Smith and first-year Austin Busch are the third and sixth-best weight throwers in the Big Ten, respectively. Their best marks on the year are 21.83 meters and 20.91 meters.

Fourth-year Jamie Kofron has the eighth spot on the leaderboard in the women’s weight throw. Her mark of 21.04 meters was set at the Black and Gold Invitational.

Fourth-year Kat Moody continues the trend in the shot put where she claims the third-best toss in the conference. Moody’s best of 17.00 gives her a favorable ranking for this weekend and the second-best shot put in school history.

Follow along

The meet will be available to stream on Big Ten Plus on Feb. 23-24. Events will begin at 9:40 a.m. on Friday and at 10 a.m. on Saturday.