Jan. 16, 2016
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Complete Results 
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa track and field team tallied 13 top finishes in front of a home crowd at the Iowa Dual on Saturday. The event featured teams from Western Illinois and Iowa Central; no team scores were kept.
“We used this meet as a stepping stone for building towards the season, and it’s good to get out here and continue to build on last week,” UI director of track and field Joey Woody said. “We expected a lot of titles today. Overall, I was pleased.”
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Junior Aaron Mallett set the tone early in the men’s 60-meter hurdles. The St. Louis, Missouri, native clocked a winning season-best time, 7.82, a new facility record that would tie him for fourth on the national leaderboard.
“I think it was a good race,” Mallett said. “I have things that I can work on and stuff to do in and out of practice every day. There’s a lot of things that I can fix, like reaction off the gun and my approach to the first hurdle, so to run that fast this early is phenomenal for me. I’ll get better as the season goes on, so I’m looking forward to staying consistent.”
The women’s 600 meters had a taste of junior Elexis Guster’s strength at the middle distances as she ran uncontested on the final lap to take first in a collegiate-best 1:32.04. That time puts her eighth on Iowa’s all-time list.
“We focus on strength in practice, so instead of opening with the 400 meters, [Coach Clive Roberts] decided to put me in the 600,” Guster said. “I was OK with the transition because I feel like it prepares me for the 400; if I can do a 600, I can do a 400.”
Sticking to the 400 meters, freshman Mar’yea Harris (49.12) held on for the win in the men’s race.
The Hawkeyes swept the top three spots in the men’s 600 meters, led by senior Mitch Wolff (1:21.78), before sealing a pair of victories from freshmen Christian Brissett (21.87) and Briana Guillory (24.44) in the men’s and women’s 200 meters.
Iowa continued its winning ways with a pair of season-best performances in the field events.
Graduate student Khanishah Williams leaped a winning height of 5-08 (1.73m) in the women’s high jump, while junior Avery Meyers took first in the men’s shot put (57-06.5, 17.54m).
“It feels great; it’s a relief actually,” Williams said. “When I opened the season, I only jumped 5’3,” but I still had a lot of problems with foot placement and how I got over the bar. Its been overwhelming because not only do I have to relearn another side, I have to do everything different technically. Its been challenging, but I’ve been working through it. This week just opened my eyes to what I can do and I’m excited.”
Iowa Dual action closed with dominating performances in the 1,600-meter relays. The women’s quartet of Guster, Guillory, junior Alexis Hernandez, and Kwaza won handily in 3:45.85, while the men’s team of senior Brendan Thompson, Mallett, sophomore Ryan Dorman, and Harris pulled away from the pack in a winning time, 3:16.06.
The Hawkeyes return to action Jan. 23 for the Big Four Duals in Ames, Iowa.
Additional Event Winners/Other Notables:
Senior Lake Kwaza produced the day’s top time (7.47) in the preliminary round of the women’s 60 meters en route to claiming the event title in 7.48.
Freshman Andy Jatis won the men’s pole vault (15-05, 4.70m).
Sophomore Leah Colbert broke into Iowa’s top-performers’ list, having thrown 52-2.5 (15.91m) in the women’s weight throw, a mark that puts her tenth in school history.
Freshman Amy Smith, the sole competitor in the women’s pole vault, reached a new height in the event when she cleared a personal-best 10-10 (3.30m). That mark ranks sixth all-time at Iowa.
