April 12, 2004
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THIS WEEK — The Hawkeye men and women’s track teams will send competitiors to Saturday’s UNI Twilight meet in Cedar Falls. Field events start at 1 p.m. with running events at 4:30 p.m. All events will be held at Mark Messersmith Outdoor Track Complex on the Northern Iowa campus. The women’s team will also send competitors to the 46th annual Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, CA. Competition will be Friday thru Sunday at Mt. SAC Stadium on the Mt. San Antonio College campus.
LAST WEEK — The men’s team produced four regional qualifiers at the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, TN, and won four events at the Jim Duncan Invitational in Des Moines, IA. The women’s team won four events and added another qualifier at the Tom Botts Invitational in Columbia, MO.
At Sea Ray, seniors Russell Peterson and Tony Leick qualified in the 400-meter hurdles, while sophomores Joel Storm and Chris Voller qualified in the javelin and hammer throw, respectively. At Jim Duncan, senior Ryan Strang won the 400 meters, Iowa won the 1,600-meter relay, sophomore Tim Brodersen won the hammer and senior Robby Beyer won the shot put.
At the Tom Botts Invitational, senior Sarah Arens qualified in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a collegiate-best and winning time of 10:38.31. Senior Michelle Lahann won the 800 meters in 2:10.30, finishing .01 off the qualifying mark. Senior Kyndra Middleton won the 200 meters and Iowa’s 400-meter relay also won an event title. The pole vault and 1,600-meter relay were cancelled due to weather conditions.
HAWKEYE COACHES — Head Coaches Larry Wiezcorek and James Grant are in their eighth seasons at the helms of the Iowa men’s and women’s track teams, respectively.
During his career at Iowa, Wieczorek has coached 22 all-Americans and 35 Big Ten Champions. Iowa’s highest conference meet finishes during his tenure is second at the 1999 outdoor meet and fourth at the 1997 indoor meet. 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.
The Hawkeyes crowned two individual champions and recorded their highest placing under Grant (third) and their highest team point total (89) in school history at the 2004 Big Ten indoor championships. During his career at Iowa, Grant has coached eight all-Americans 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.
NEXT COMPETITION — The Hawkeye men’s and women’s teams will comepte at the 95th running of the Drake Relays, April 22-24, in Des Moines, IA. Events will be held on Jim Duncan Track at Drake Stadium. The meet will be aiming for its 39th consecutive sellout of the 18,000 seat Drake Stadium, which would be the longest streak in U.S. track history.