Feb. 29, 2004
Iowa City, IA – The University of Iowa women’s track and field team tied their highest finish at a Big Ten Championship event by placing third at the 2004 Big Ten Women’s Indoor Championships. This marks Iowa’s highest finish at the Big Ten Championships under Head Coach James Grant. Iowa crowned two Big Ten champions and had four athletes finish runner-up as the Hawkeyes made a name for themselves in the Big Ten Conference.
Iowa started off the day in the mile where senior Sarah Arens placed fifth. Next up for the nationally ranked Hawkeyes was senior Shellene Williams who set a UI Recreation Building track record as she blew by the competition in the 400 meters, winning the event in 54.17.
Peaches Roach took a break from the high jump competition to compete in the 60 meters where she finished fifth. Michelle Lahann was barely edged out at the finish line in the 800 meter run, finishing second with a time of 2:10.96. Senior Aisha Hume placed fourth in the 600 meters, finishing the event in 1:32.41.
The 200 meter dash provided the most excitement on the day as Shellene Williams and Penn State senior Consuella Moore were neck and neck until the finish. Williams brought home a second place finish in the 200 meters with a time of 23.97. The freshman class for the Hawkeyes came through for Iowa as Roach, Nikki Chapple and Shannon Stanley all had impressive showings on Sunday. Roach had no problem becoming the Big Ten champion in the high jump, recording a collegiate-best and NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 5-11 ? (1.81 meters). The next closest mark was at 5-8 (1.73 meters). Chapple was runner-up in the 5,000 meters, finishing in 17:11.68 and Stanley finished seventh in the 800 meters. The 1,600 meter relay team of Lindsey McCalla, Williams, Erin Sheeley and Aisha Hume finished out the day with a third place finish.
Iowa’s third place finish is their best showing at a Big Ten meet since the 1983 Big Ten outdoor championships where they also placed third. Iowa had not placed higher than ninth under Coach Grant until this weekend. Grant has now coached four individuals to Big Ten championships.
“I’m extremely happy, words can’t describe how great I feel for our team,” Grant said. “Our girls were really wonderful – they performed beyond the call. I knew we could finish in third and a lot of people stepped up. It was really awesome to do this in Iowa City in front of our home crowd.”
The Hawkeyes will travel to Ames, IA on Saturday, March 6 for the NCAA Last Chance Meet. Complete results along with other notes and quotes from the 2004 Big Ten Women’s Indoor Championships can be found at www.bigten.org and at www.hawkeyesports.com.