April 10, 2006
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THIS WEEK — The women’s team will compete at the Mt. SAC Relays Thursday-Saturday in Walnut, CA. The men’s team will send a split squad to the Tom Botts Invitational in Columbia, MO, and the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, AZ. Both meets will be held Friday and Saturday.
WOMEN’S TEAM MAKES TRACKWIRE 25 — The Hawkeye women’s track team is ranked 20th in the season’s first national outdoor rankings released by Trackwire. The list, compiled by Gary Verigin of www.trackwire.com, ranks schools according to a projected hypothetical score for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which is generated by a power ranking of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each NCAA event. Iowa is ranked 20th with 12 points. Texas is ranked first with 62.
VANDENEND AND JOHNSON BREAK RECORDS — Hawkeye juniors Micah VanDenend and Tiffany Johnson have set new school records this outdoor season. VanDenend broke the 38-year-old 5,000-meter record at the Stanford Invitational, running a collegiate-best 13:55.96 for sixth place in the event. Iowa Head Coach Larry Wieczorek set the previous record of 13:56.0 in 1968. Johnson broke her own 100-meter hurdles record of 13.57, set in 2005, with her collegiate-best 13.54 at the Messersmith Invite. She now holds school records in the indoor and outdoor triple jump, 60-meter hurdles, 100-meter hurdles and as part of the indoor 1,600-meter relay.
LAST WEEK — The Hawkeyes won seven events, set a school record and added a new regional qualifier at Saturday’s Mark Messersmith Invitational in Cedar Falls. Winning events for the Hawkeyes were senior Brian Rae (3,000-meter steeplechase), juniors Adam Hamilton (hammer throw), Tiffany Johnson (100-meter hurdles) and Peaches Roach (high jump), sophomore Jeremy Petsche (high jump) and freshman Renee White (long jump). The women’s team also won the 400 and 800-meter relay titles. Hamilton qualified for the regional meet with a collegiate-best hammer throw of 220-6, which was over 10 feet longer than his previous best. Johnson broke her own 100-meter hurdles school record of 13.57, set in 2005, with a 13.54 she ran in the prelims.
HAWKEYE COACHES — Larry Wieczorek and James Grant are in their 10th seasons at the helm of Iowa men’s and women’s track, respectively.
During his career at Iowa, Wieczorek has coached 23 all-Americans and 35 Big Ten Champions. Iowa’s highest conference meet finishes during his tenure are 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.
In his tenure with the Hawkeyes, Grant has coached eight all-Americans and 21 Big Ten champions. Iowa placed third at the 2004 Big Ten Indoor Championships in Iowa City and sixth at the 2003 conference outdoor meet – the team’s highest placings during Grant’s tenure. The third-place indoor finish tied the team’s highest conference finish in school history.
NEXT COMPETITION — Iowa will host the eighth annual co-ed Iowa Musco Twilight meet on Saturday, April 22 at Francis X. Cretzmeyer Track in Iowa City. Field events are set to start at 2:30 p.m., with running event “B” sections starting at 3 p.m. and running event finals starting at 5:30 p.m. Competing teams include Drake, Iowa State, Minnesota, Marquette, Wisconsin La-Crosse and Iowa. Admission is $3, with University of Iowa students getting in free.