In 2022, the Big Ten conference made a bombshell announcement that would shift the UI track and field program.
USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington would join the league ahead of the 2024-25 season, capping off the new wave of conference expansions across the country.
“I just thought it was wild,” Ray Robinson, the Iowa asscociate head coach of track and field, said. “[The conference] kind of stretched from coast to coast completely,” Robinson said. “But I was also excited for the challenge … to continue to test ourselves.”
UI track and field runner Alli Bookin-Nosbisch described the feeling as stressful. The fifth-year holds two UI records in the indoor 800 meter and outdoor 800 meter.
“My event group, Washington and Oregon in particular, are really, really talented,” Bookin- Nosbisch said. “Their undeniable impact is shown at the Big Ten conference meets. The Big Ten conference meet is a lot more competitive. They’re very highly funded, highly regarded teams. So, going up against them … it’s kind of scary.”
In the Big Ten conference meet, USC showed their impact, taking up four of the eight spots in the finals of both the 60-meter and 200-meter dash.
“That’s literally unheard of,” Bookin-Nosbisch said. “So, it was definitely a lot more competitive to make the finals and then to medal at the meets.”
Second-year thrower Ryan Johnson has also felt the impact. Johnson was a Big Ten champion in weighted throw, posting a school record score of 80-0, 24.38.
“Their outdoor throwers are, like, nasty,” he said. “They’re gonna provide really good competition outdoors.”
Johnson has also noticed the various changes in the altitude when traveling to meets on the west coast.
“You can definitely tell there’s a different attitude at meets,” Johnson said. There’s a bunch of different, like, backgrounds and stuff now, instead, just like a bunch of Midwest people.”
The addition of these four highly competitive schools has led the Iowa track and field program to adopt a different approach to recruiting.
“I think recruiting is going to be huge for the success of the program,” Bookin-Nosbisch said. “For the longest time, Iowa was definitely like a developmental program … In the coming years, Iowa has to go for those higher recruits who are running faster times right out of high school.”
The 2025 freshman class has already made an impact on the program. The Hawkeyes claimed the two Big Ten Indoor Freshman of the Year winners, Pauline Bikembo and Abraham Vogelsang.
“If you look at the recruits we are getting this upcoming year, they’re awesome … You can see that the coaches are already making that shift,” Bookin-Nosbisch said.
With a solid foundation under their belts, Iowa is confident and pleased with their standing as a program.
“As long as we keep moving the direction we’re going, we’ll be good,” Johnson said.