Last week, the Iowa track and field team took a road trip to Des Moines, Iowa, to compete in the Jim Duncan invitational on Friday, gathering some momentum for a nationwide split this weekend.
That weekend, the throwers and mid-distance runners competed and returned home with four event titles.
Third-year Wisdom Williams delivered a historic discus throw to get first place. Her throw notched 16.15 meters, earning her a top-four all-time finish in program history and a personal best.
The Hawkeyes also showed a promising performance in the men’s hammer throw. Second-year Austin Busch earned gold with a 65.30-meter heave while third-year Sean Smith captured second place with a 64.77-meter throw. On the women’s side, fourth-year Alivia Bauer claimed third place with a 56.09 meter hammer throw.
“Honestly, we didn’t have a ton of athletes competing, but I thought there were some really nice things that happened in the throws,” assistant coach Jason Wakenight said.
The freshman men discus throwers had a dominant performance. Duke Faley captured the gold after throwing a personal record with a 54.75-meter throw. Bryce Ruland followed behind, claiming silver with a 53.78-meter throw.
Even fourth-year Jaiden Itson got in on the action as she captured the gold in the women’s 800-meter, delivering an impressive time of 2:12.50.
“I was really pleased with Jaiden and how she started her outdoor campaign,” Wakenight said. “I think [assistant coach Randy] Hasenbank was very pleased with the performances of numerous distance runners too.”
Big moves ahead
The Hawkeyes will travel across the country this weekend to:
- Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, California
- Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California
- Kansas Relays in Lawrence, Kansas
- Tom Jones Invitational in Gainesville, Florida
- Beach Invitational in Long Beach, California
“If we can make a push to be top 10 on both sides after our performances this weekend, that’d be pretty good,” Wakenight said.
The women’s and men’s multi-event athletes will travel to Walnut, California, to compete in the Mt. Sac Relays — one of the biggest events in the track and field world. Big Ten Indoor Freshmen of the Year Abraham Vogelsang and Pauline Bikembo will be competing.
Along with the multi-event athletes, some of the men’s and women’s sprinters, mid-distance runners, and jumpers will compete as well.
The men’s and women’s long distance runners will head to Azusa, California, to compete in the Bryan Clay invitational. Some mid-distance runners will run there as well.
Fifth-year Alli Bookin-Nosbisch is expected to have an exciting race. In her last time out, she clocked in at 2:02.92 in the 800-meter at the Florida Relays. This earned her first place and reset her program record she had previously set.
The throwers will head to Lawrence, Kansas, to compete in the Kansas Relays. Some of the men’s and women’s sprinters and hurdlers will follow along with women’s mid- and long- distance.
To wrap up the weekend, a majority of the men’s and women’s sprinters and hurdlers will travel to Gainesville, Florida, to compete in the Tom Jones invitational.
First-year Alivia Williams, Damaris Mutunga, Chioma Nwachukwu have expectations to perform well this weekend. Last time out, the three all cemented a spot on the top-10 program all-time list in the 400-meter.
Their 4×400-meter relay with second-year Olivia Lucas has had a lot of success so far too as they are now second all-time at Iowa. They are expected to have a dominant race this weekend too.
“I have to be a liar if I said I didn’t expect a school record in the 4-by-4,” Wakenight said. “We need to take care of business, and I would expect we could break that school record by at least two seconds if we run up to what we’re capable of.”
But Williams is just focused on execution.
“My goals for the four will be to try and PR and execute the race properly,” Williams said. “My struggle last time … was execution. So this time, the main focus is to execute the race.”