Feb. 13, 2009
AMES, IA – Day one at the Iowa State Classic was a mix of proven talent and up-and-comers for the Hawkeyes, with many of the athletes competing in their respective events for the first time in their collegiate careers.
For the women’s squad, Senior Renee White earned a new season best in the long jump (14th, 18-5) that ranks seventh in school history. In the 200-meters, it was junior Rhonda-Kaye Trusty (14th, 24.85) who led the Hawkeyes while freshman Tiffany Hendricks (55th, 25.61) earned a new season best. In the non-seeded 3,000-meter race, freshman Lindsay Anderson (5th, 10:05.89) earned a top five finish while junior Katie Ellis (8th, 10:06.59) and freshman Danielle Berndt (21st, 10:19.57) earned new collegiate bests.
Iowa sophomore Graham Valdes posted a second place finish in the non-seeded high jump with a collegiate best performance (6-9.5). In the 200-meter dash, junior Paul Chaney, Jr. (14th, 21.85) was Iowa’s top performer with junior Ray Varner (26th, 22.08) and sophomores Steven Willey (49th, 22.27) and Chris Barton (64th, 22.47) all posting new collegiate bests. For the distance runners, sophomore Sam Bailin was the Hawkeye’s top finisher in the 3,000-meters (3rd, 15:00.26), posting a new collegiate best along with sophomore Mark Battista (4th, 15:00.63) and junior Jay Renaud (10th, 15:14.59).
The Hawkeyes will compete in day two of the Iowa State Classic on Saturday with the first event slated to start at 10:00 a.m. (CT). Iowa will also be represented at the Husky Classic, hosted by the University of Washington, with the meet set to go under way at 10:30 a.m. (CT) on Saturday.