March 1, 2004
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THIS WEEK — The Hawkeyes will send athletes to the co-ed Cyclone National Track and Field Qualifier Saturday in Ames. All events will be held at Lied Recreation Center. Field events are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. with running events set to begin at 10:30 a.m. It will be the last opportunity for the Hawkeyes to qualify, or improve already qualifying marks, for the 2004 NCAA Championships, to be held March 12-13 in Fayetteville, AR.
IN THE RANKINGS — Iowa has qualified seven student-athletes for the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships in six individual events and one relay. Their events, best performances, whether they are an automatic or provisional qualifier, and where they rank in the nation are listed below.
Athlete-Event-Qualifier-Mark-Rank
Sarah Arens-Distance Medley Relay-PQ-11:30.36-20th
Nikki Chapple-3,000 Meters-PQ-9:34.17-40th
Ken Kemeny-Shot Put-PQ-60-0 1/2 (18.30m)-20th
Michelle Lahann-Mile-PQ-4:47.23-30th
Michelle Lahann-Distance Medley Relay-PQ-11:30.36-20th
Peaches Roach-High Jump-PQ-5-11 1/4 (1.81 m)-15th
Shannon Stanley-Distance Medley Relay-PQ-11:30.36-20th
Shellene Williams-200 Meters-PQ-23.62-14th
Shellene Williams-400 Meters-AQ-52.83-9th
Shellene Williams-Distance Medley Relay-PQ-11:30.36-20th
PQ — provisional qualifier, AQ — automatic qualifier
LAST WEEK — The Iowa women’s team hosted the 2004 Big Ten Indoor Championships at the Recreation Building in Iowa City, while the men’s team competed at the Big Ten indoor meet in Ann Arbor, MI.
The women’s team edged out Ohio State in the final event for third place, tying its highest finish in school history at a Big Ten meet. Iowa scored a school-record 89 team points, while the Buckeyes tallied 88.83. Penn State won it’s first team title with 115 points. The Hawkeyes crowned two individual champions and placed second in four other events.
Senior Shellene Williams won the 400 meters (54.17), placed third in the 200 meters (23.97) and ran the second leg of the 1,600-meter relay that placed third with a school-record 3:44.47. Freshman Peaches Roach won the high jump with a collegiate-best 5-11 1/4, beating the rest of the field by at least 3 1/4 inches. Roach also placed fifth in the 60 meters (7.50). Senior Michelle Lahann placed second in the 800 meters (2:10.72) and ran the lead leg of the distance medley relay that placed third in 11:41.77. Senior Jessie Strand was runner-up in the pole vault, breaking her own indoor school record with a vault of 12-5 1/2. Freshman Nikki Chapple placed second in the 5,000 meters (17:11.68) and third in the 3,000 meters (9:37.80). Junior Aisha Hume placed fourth in the 600 meters with a personal-best 1:32.41 and anchored the 1,600-meter relay. Senior Sarah Arens placed fifth in the mile (4:55.28) and anchored the distance medley relay. Junior Tiff Pedersen placed fifth in the pentathlon, scoring a collegiate-best 3,451 points.
The men’s team placed 10th with 13 points. Wisconsin won its fourth team title in five seasons with 174.5 points. Senior shot-putter Ken Kemeny led the Hawkeyes in that event with a personal-best 60-0 1/2 for sixth place. Iowa’s 1,600-meter relay of seniors Zach Digney, Tony Leick and Russell Peterson and junior Juan Coleman placed fifth in 3:18.42. The Hawkeye distance medley relay of junior Ben Lloyd, Leick, sophomore Dan Dziubski and junior Dan Trainor placed seventh in 10:10.66. Digney also placed seventh in the 200 meters (21.79) and Peterson placed ninth in the 60-meter hurdles (8.52), after running a personal-best 7.97 in the semifinals. Iowa also recorded top-10 individual peformances from Derrick Burks in the 60 meters (8th-6.98), junior Matt Esche in the 3,000 meters (9th-8:17.28), junior Matt O’Hollearn in the 600 meters (9th-1:21.42) and Andy Banse in the shot put (10th-54-4 1/2).
HAWKEYE COACHES — Larry Wieczorek is in his eighth year as Iowa’s men’s head track coach. As a runner, Wieczorek was a six-time Big Ten champion for Iowa, winning four track and two cross country titles. He was also a four-time all-American. In 1998, Wieczorek was inducted into the National Iowa Varsity Club Hall of Fame. He is assisted by former Iowa all-American and world-class 400-meter hurdler Pat McGhee and three-time all-American and two-time Big Ten shot put champion Scott Cappos.
James Grant is in his eighth year at the helm of the women’s track and field program. Last weekend at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, the Hawkeyes crowned two individual champions, recorded their highest placing under Grant (third) and their highest team point total (89) in school history. During his career at Iowa, Grant has coached one all-American and 16 Big Ten Champions. As a runner, Grant captained Eastern Michigan University’s 1970 and 1971 track teams, earning all-America honors while specializing in the 400-meter dash, 400-meter hurdles and the mile relay. Grant is assisted by Steve Callaway, who was a decathlete and pole vault school record holder at Indiana, and Layne Anderson, a three-time Southern Conference champion who set 10 school records at The Citadel.