March 24, 2009
THIS WEEK — Members of Iowa’s women’s track and field team will open the 2009 outdoor season Friday and Saturday at the Stanford Invite at Stanford, CA. All events will be held at Cobb Track and Angell Field on the Stanford campus. Competition is set to start at 12:30 p.m. (CT) Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday.
LAST MEET — All three of Iowa’s competitors at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships at College Station, TX, March 13-14 earned all-America honors. Seniors Racheal Marchand and John Hickey, and sophomore Karessa Farley earned the national honors in the final event of the 2009 indoor season, while the Iowa women’s team placed 27th with nine points.
Marchand placed third in the women’s 5,000 meters with a time of 15:59.44 to become Iowa’s first all-American in that event since Tracy Dahl in 1993. Marchand, who picked up her fourth all-America honor with the performance, finished a half second out of second place and edged the fourth-place finisher by .11 seconds. She is Iowa’s third two-time all-American in cross country and seventh two-time all-American in track. Hickey placed ninth in the men’s shot put with a throw of 60-3 3/4. He is Iowa’s first two-time all-American in that event since Jeremy Allen (2000, 2001). Farley placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.23 to become the first Hawkeye in women’s school history to earn all-America honors in that event.
HAWKEYE COACHING STAFF — The Hawkeye coaching staff has some new faces and responsibilities for the 2009 season. Larry Wieczorek is the men’s head track and cross country coach, and Layne Anderson is the women’s head track and cross country coach. The teams now share administrative responsibilities, coordinate their competition schedules and divide coaching responsibilities by event instead of gender.
Assistant Scott Cappos, who is in his 13th year at Iowa, will coach the throws, while third-year assistant Joey Woody will coach the men’s sprints, short hurdles and relays, and women’s long sprints and hurdles. First-year assistant Clive Roberts will coach the women’s short sprints, hurdles and relays, as well as the horizontal jumps for both groups. First-year assistant Christi Smith will direct the multi-events and vertical jumps.
NEXT UP — The Hawkeyes will send split squads to compete at the Tiger Track Classic (March 3-4) at Auburn, AL, and the Central Invitational (March 4) at Pella, IA. Events at Auburn are set to start at 4:30 p.m. (CT) Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday at Auburn University’s Hutsell-Rosen Track. Events at Central will start at 10 a.m. and will be held at Central College’s Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium.