Iowa to Split Competition Between Ames, Seattle

Feb. 8, 2010

THIS WEEK — The University of Iowa track squads will hit the road for a weekend of competition in Ames, IA at the ISU Classic and Seattle, WA, for the Husky Classic.

The ISU Classic, hosted by Iowa State University, is a three-day event, with the pentathlon and four of the seven heptathlon events on Thursday starting at 12:30 p.m. Friday’s action will conclude the heptathlon in the morning while running and field events are set to begin at 1:30 p.m. The Saturday session will comprise of the majority of the events, with the morning portion set to begin at 9:30 a.m.

The Husky Classic is hosted by the University of Washington and is a two-day event. The distance medley relay and multiple heats of the 5,000-meter run start Friday at 8:00 p.m. CST. The remaining events are slated to start Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

LAST TIME OUT – MEYO INVITE/HUSKER INVITE — It was an eventful weekend of action, with Iowa seeing a new school record and a handful of provisional qualifying times and top-ten all-time performances. Sophomore Erik Sowinski set the school record in the 800 meters with his second place finish of 1:49.21 at the Meyo Invite. This is the second time this season that Sowinski met the provisional qualifying mark for the 800 meters. Sowinksi also holds the school record for the 600 meters, set last season at 1:18.05.

The previous record-holder, Adam Hairston, finished right behind Sowinski, placing third at 1:49.64, good enough to provisionally qualify in the 800 meters. It’s a career-best for Hairston and places him second all-time at Iowa in the 800 meters.

Junior Steven Willey became the second Hawkeye this season to provisionally qualify for two events after he met the mark for the 400 meters, finishing fourth at 47.22. That mark ranks fourth all-time at Iowa. The men’s 1,600-meter relay team, consisting of Sowinski, Willey, freshman Kevin Dibbern and senior Ray Varner also met the provisional qualifying standard for the second time this season.

Many other Hawkeyes found their ways into the recordbooks this weekend. Freshman Jordan Mullen now ranks third all-time in the 60-meter hurdles (4th, 8.03). Senior Caleigh Bacchus’ new career-best in the high jump (3rd, 5-8 3/4, 1.75m) ranks fourth in the Iowa record books. Junior Amanda Hardesty and sophomore Betsy Flood now rank seventh (9:30.17) and eighth (9:32.09) in the 3,000 meters, respectfully.

MEN’S SQUAD ANNOUNCES CAPTAINS — Men’s Head Coach Larry Wieczorek announced last week that seniors Adam Hairston, Jesse Luciano, Dan Rolling and Ray Varner have been named team captains for the 2010 track and field season.

“These four men are tremendous leaders and I’m proud to have them represent our team in the classroom and on the track,” said Wieczorek. “These student-athletes hold our program to a very high standard and I’m confident they are the type of athletes that can get us there.”

UP NEXT — Iowa returns home for the Iowa Invitational on Friday, Feb. 19, with events slated to start at 5:00 p.m.

Complete Release in PDF Format

Complete Husky Invite Schedule PDF Format

Complete ISU Classic Schedule PDF Format