Go (See The) Hawks!

Aug. 24, 2005

The UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is teaming up with the Iowa City Press-Citizen to build greater awareness in the very home of the Hawkeyes – Iowa City and its surrounding communities – of the wide variety of intercollegiate athletics events staged on the UI campus each week that are great sources of inexpensive entertainment for everyone from area families to UI students to senior citizens.

“Everyone knows when the Iowa football or men’s basketball teams are playing because those programs are very, very high profile. Not everyone knows, however, when our volleyball program is hosting a Big Ten opponent or our soccer program is in action. Hopefully, this program will help build an awareness for those events,” said Rick Klatt, the UI’s associate athletics director for external affairs.

Klatt said the Go Hawks! series is designed to create greater awareness of all of the UI’s varsity athletics programs. He said the Press-Citizen will promote the Go Hawks! series in its publication and the UI will do the same at its home events and on its web sites and through the UI’s other information channels.

“We’ll also make it a little fun by providing a handful of lucky fans who attend a Go Hawks! event a prize or two,” Klatt said. The prizes aren’t too shabby, either. They’ll range from pairs of tickets to sold-out Iowa home football games to tickets to select Iowa men’s basketball, women’s basketball and wrestling events to gift certificates to the Official Iowa Hawk Shop and trial subscriptions to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Most of the events that are part of the Go Hawks! series are free admission events. All feature highly-skilled student-athletes in the area’s favorite collegiate colors: The University of Iowa’s black and gold.

“Like our high profile student-athletes, the young men and women who participate in field hockey or soccer or golf or tennis work hard to develop their athletic skills while achieving at a high level academically at the UI,” said Klatt.

“It’s icing on the cake for them to also have the opportunity to showcase their skills for an interested audience that goes beyond their coaches and friends and teammates. Too often, the number of spectators for those events is much less than what everyone would like it to be.”

“As an Iowa City native and University of Iowa graduate, I have grown up surrounded by the excitement and spectacle of Iowa football and men’s basketball. What I have come to realize over the past few years is that the competition is just as intense, the thrill of a victory just as exhilarating, and the athletic ability just as impressive at a volleyball game, a soccer match or a golf tournament,” said Dan Brown, market development director for the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

“Women’s basketball games, track meets and tennis tournaments are great opportunities for families and individuals to experience top-notch sporting events – often for free! The Press-Citizen wants to encourage people in our community to get out and support all – and we emphasize ‘all’ – UI student athletes. That’s why we are so pleased to work with the University of Iowa Athletic Department to create the Go Hawks! Series.

The schedule of Go Hawks! events for the 2005 fall sports season is set. Staff from the UI and the Iowa City Press-Citizen are finalizing the events that will fall into the winter and spring sports seasons.

Iowa City Press-Citizen Go Hawks! Series
Fall 2005 Schedule of Events

Volleyball
August 27 – Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Noon
August 27 – Drake, 7 pm
September 27 – Northern Iowa, 7 pm
September 30 – Michigan, 7 pm
October 1 – Michigan State, 7 pm
October 21 – Penn State, 7 pm
October 22 – Ohio State, 7 pm
October 26 – Minnesota, 7 pm
October 28 – Indiana, 7 pm
November 11 – Wisconsin, 7 pm
November 12 – Northwestern, 7 pm

Field Hockey
August 27 – Wake Forest, Noon
August 28 – North Carolina, Noon
September 9 – Ball State, 3 pm
September 11 – Providence, 1 pm
October 1 – Michigan State, 1 pm
October 4 – Northwestern, 3 pm
October 8 – Penn State, 1 pm
October 22 – Indiana, 1 pm

Soccer
September 2 – Oklahoma State, 7 pm
September 4 – Oklahoma, 1 pm
September 7 – Iowa State, 6 pm
September 11 – Missouri, 1 pm
September 23 – Wisconsin, 7 pm
September 25 – Northwestern, 1 pm
October 14 – Michigan State, 7 pm
October 16 – Michigan, 1 pm

Women’s Golf
September 10 – Hawkeye Intercollegiate, All Day
September 11 – Hawkeye Intercollegiate, All Day

Men’s Golf
September 10 – Hawkeye Intercollegiate, All Day
September 11 – Hawkeye Intercollegiate, All Day

Rowing
October 30 – Head of Iowa, All Day

Men’s Cross Country
September 2 – Hawkeye Open, 6 pm

Women’s Cross Country
September 2 – Hawkeye Regional Preview, 6 pm