Feb. 28, 2009
IOWA CITY, IA – The University of Iowa men’s and women’s track teams finished day one of the Big Ten Indoor Championships with two provisional qualifying performances and a new school record. At Saturday’s end, the women’s squad is sitting at ninth with seven points and the men are currently in sixth with 15.5 points.
Sophomore Karessa Farley provisionally qualified for the second time this season with a fifth-place mark of 8.35 in the 60-meter hurdles. Farley’s performance qualifies her for the 60-meter hurdle finals tomorrow. Sophomore Bethany Praska will also be joining Farley on Sunday, as her seventh-place finish of 1:31.33 in the 600 meters earns her a spot in tomorrow’s finals. Iowa’s trio of 800 meter runners all earned new collegiate bests. Sophomore Lauren Hardesty led the bunch (12th, 2:12.39), with senior Jennie Docherty (14th, 2:13.39) and freshman Brittany Dlhy (16th, 2:14.37) close behind. Not to be outdone, sophomore sister Amanda Hardesty earned a new collegiate best mark (8th, 9:50.76) in the 3,000 meters along with junior Hannah Roeder (12th, 10:05.43). Iowa’s distance medley team finished third (11:27.34) due in no small part to senior Racheal Marchand’s anchor leg performance.
“It was a day with a lot of personal victories,” says Iowa Women’s Head Coach Layne Anderson, “but we definitely left some opportunities out there. There were a lot of races where we barely missed the qualifying cutoff, and that’s going to hurt us tomorrow not having those people in the finals. Certainly we fought hard though, with Amanda Hardesty’s personal record at the end and Racheal Marchand in the medley, but we just came up short in some areas.”
Senior John Hickey continued to show his dominance in the shot put, finishing second with yet another provisionally qualifying performance (60-5.75 / 18.43m) that ranks sixth in school history. Fellow senior A.J. Curtis (4th, 57-9.5 / 17.61m) and redshirt freshman Ryan Lamparek (6th, 56-8.75 / 17.29) also came away from Saturday with new collegiate best marks. Freshman Erik Sowinski set a new school record (6th, 1:18.05) in the 600 meters, a record that has stood for over 20 years. The previous school record of 1:18.30 was set in 1988 by Pat McGhee. Sowinski and his sophomore teammate Steven Willey (3rd, 1:19.04) will both advance to the 600-meter finals on Sunday. Others advancing to Sunday’s finals will be junior Adam Hairston in the 800 meters (3rd, 1:51.08), junior Paul Chaney, Jr. in the 60-meter dash (5th, 6.82) and the 200-meter dash (7th, 21.64), freshman Patrick Richards (6th, 48.24) in the 400 meters, and heptathlete juniors Dan Rolling and Frank Prill.
“The highlights of the day,” Head Coach Larry Wieczorek says, “were definitely Erik Sowinski’s school record and John Hickey’s performance in the shot put. There were a lot of good performances all around. We barely missed the qualifying mark on a few races, but I’m confident in the guys we have going into tomorrow.”
Iowa will wrap up the 2009 Big Ten Indoor Championships on Sunday. The men’s team will be at Penn State University with events slated to start at 9:15 a.m. (CST). The women’s team will be at Indiana University and will begin action at 10:00 a.m.
FRIDAY’S BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS (Winner Plus Iowa Placers)
Men’s Heptathlon 60 Meters
1. Joey Schwecke (Minn) 7.08
4. Dan Rolling (Iowa) 7.30
9. Frank Prill (Iowa) 7.40
Men’s Heptathlon Long Jump
1. R.J. McGinnis (Minn) 22 – 11 3/4 (7.0m)
11. Dan Rolling (Iowa) 20 – 2 1/2 (6.16m)
12. Frank Prill (Iowa) 20 – 2 1/4 (6.15m)
Men’s Heptathlon Shot Put
1. R.J. McGinnis (Minn) 49-10 1/2 (15.20m)
15. Dan Rolling (Iowa) 34-8 1/2 (10.58m)
18. Frank Prill (Iowa) 32-7 (9.93m)
Men’s Heptathlon High Jump
1. Lance Moe (Purdue) 6-11 3/4 (2.13m)
11. Dan Rolling (Iowa) 6-1 1/4 (1.86m)
12. Frank Prill (Iowa) 6-0 (1.83m)
Men’s Shot Put
1. Aaron Studt (Minn) 62-11 1/4 (19.18m)
2. John Hickey (Iowa) 60-5 3/4 (18.43m)
4. A.J. Curtis (Iowa) 57-9 1/2 (17.61m)
6. Ryan Lamparek (Iowa)56-8 3/4 (17.29m)
10. Mark Schaapveld (Iowa)55-6 1/4 (16.92m)
Men’s 400 Meters (Preliminaries)
1. Jeremy Orr (MSU) 46.83
6. Patrick Richards (Iowa) 48.24
11. Ray Varner 48.52
16. Chris Barton 48.76
Men’s 60-Meter Dash (Preliminaries)
1. Adam Harris (Mich) 6.66
5. Paul Chaney, Jr. (Iowa) 6.82
10. D’Juan Richardson (Iowa) 6.89
Men’s 800 Meters (Preliminaries)
1. Evan Bardach (Indiana) 1:50.19
3. Adam Hairston (Iowa) 1:51.08
13. Zack Braff (Iowa) 1:52.65
Men’s 600 Meters (Preliminaries)
1. Lionel Williams (PSU) 1:17.64
3. Steven Willey (Iowa) 1:19.04
6. Erik Sowinski (Iowa) 1:18.05
19. Dan Kuhlman (Iowa) 1:34.57
Men’s 3,000 Meters
1. Hassan Mead (Minn) 8:02.61
11. Brendan Camplin (Iowa) 8:19.97
15. Eric MacTaggart (Iowa) 8:23.42
20. Tommy Tate (Iowa) 8:31.71
Men’s Distance Medley
1. Michigan 9:45.27
9. Iowa 9:52.52
Men’s Pole Vault
1. Jeffrey Coover (Ind) 17-10 1/2 (5.45m)
16. Alex Zona (Iowa) 15-7 (4.75m)
Men’s Mile (Preliminaries)
10. Chase Kadlec (Iowa) 4:09.47
15. James Paul (Iowa) 4:19.00
Men’s 200-Meter Dash (Preliminaries)
7. Paul Chaney, Jr. (Iowa) 21.64
18. D’Juan Richardson (Iowa) 22.17
Women’s Shot Put
1. Tiffany Howard (Ind) 51-11 1/4 (15.83m)
16. Amanda Chandler (Iowa)41-4 1/2 (12.61m)
Women’s Mile (Preliminaries)
1. Gabriele Anderson (Minn) 4:47.46
10. Betsy Flood (Iowa) 4:52.35
11. McKenzie Melander (Iowa) 4:53.33
Women’s 400 Meters (Preliminaries)
1. Melissa Bates (Illinois) 54.53
16. Tiffany Hendricks (Iowa) 57.66
18. Nicole Erickson (Iowa) 57.73
Women’s 800 Meters (Preliminaries)
1. Geena Gall (Mich) 2:07.99
12. Lauren Hardesty (Iowa) 2:12.39
14. Jennie Docherty (Iowa) 2:13.39
16. Brittany Dlhy (Iowa) 2:14.37
Women’s 60-meter Dash (Preliminaries)
1. Shavon Greaves (PSU) 7.44
10. Rhonda-Kaye Trusty (Iowa) 7.70
Women’s 60-meter Hurdles (Preliminaries)
1. Tiffany Ofili (Michigan) 8.14
5. Karessa Farley (Iowa) 8.35
13. Renee White (Iowa) 8.77
Women’s 600 Meters (Preliminaries) 1. Katie LaValley (Michigan) 1:30.56
7. Bethany Praska (Iowa) 1:31.33
18. Sophia Ponce (Iowa) 1:36.46
Women’s 3,000 Meters
1. Gwen Jorgenson (Wisconsin) 9:20.42
8. Amanda Hardesty (Iowa) 9:50.76
12. Hannah Roeder (Iowa) 10:05.43
16. Lindsay Anderson (Iowa) 10:17.33
18. Katie Ellis (Iowa) 10:32.92
Women’s Distance Medley
1. Michigan 11:16.65
3. Iowa 11:27.34
Women’s 200-Meter Dash (Preliminaries)
11. Rhonda-Kaye Trusty (Iowa) 24.75