24 Hawkeyes to Watch 2016-17 | Hawkeye Invite PDF Notes
THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa men’s and women’s cross country teams kick off the 2016 season hosting the Hawkeye Invitational on Friday. The Hawkeyes host Illinois State, Iowa State, Illinois (M), Drake, UNI, Creighton, Missouri, and Bradley at the Ashton Cross Country Course. The women’s3,000-meter race begins at 6 p.m. (CT). The men’s 6,000 meters begins at 6:45 p.m. Admission isfree.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Results are posted on the Iowa cross country Twitter account: @Iowa XC_TF and online at hawkeyesports.com.
FAN PARKING
Parking for fans is available at the Hawkeye Commuter lot free of charge.
HASENBANK TAKES CROSS COUNTRY LEAD
Randy Hasenbank was named interim associate head cross country coach/ assistant track and field
coach in August. Hasenbank takes over for Layne Anderson, who resigned after 13 seasons at the
helm. Hasenbank spent the past five seasons at Loyola University Chicago where he won numberous
accolades, including being named Horizon League Coach of the Year five times as well as
coaching nine All-Americans.
HAWKEYES RETURN TOP FINISHERS
Iowa’s top finishers from the 2015 Big Ten Championships and NCAA Regional all return in 2016.Madison Waymire, Andrea Shine, and Tess Wilberding return after leading the Hawkeyes in both postseason races. The men return their top five runners from the Big Ten Championships in Michael Melchert, Anthony Gregorio, Daniel Soto, Ian Eklin, and Ben Anderson. They also return four of their top finishers from NCAAs including Anderson, Gregorio, Soto and Kevin Docherty.
HAWKEYE NEWCOMERS
The men’s cross country team added 22 student-athletes to its 2016 roster including 16 women and six men. Brandon Cooley, Adam Jones, Derek Meeks, Nathan Mylenek, Luke Sampson and Karson Sommer join the men’s team. Taylor Arco, Grace Coen, Amber Decker, Alex Dodds, Claire Dupuis, Maria Eastman, Lauren Gibbs, Julie Hollensbe, Marlie Houston, Mallory King, Hunter Koenigsfeld, Haylee Luna, Tia Saunders, Haley Schroder, Macie Weber, and Lindsay Welker join the women’s team.
EKLIN RETURNS TO HAWKEYE INVITE
Sophomore Ian Eklin made his collegiate debut last year at the Early Bird Invitational, running unattached and finishing third with a time of 19:13.5. Eklin kicks off 2016 by returning to the race he found the most success on in 2015, running as a Hawkeye.
HAWKEYES EXCEL IN CLASSROOM
The Hawkeyes had 10 student-athletes named to the 2015 Big Ten Fall Academic All-Conference team — Kevin Docherty, Marta Bote Gonzalez, Kelly Breen, Courtney Bruns, Nate Ferree, Daniel Gardarsson, Anthony Gregorio, Daniel Huff, Taylor Soltys, and Tess Wilberding. Gregorio and Gonzalez were named Big Ten Distinguished Scholars by being letterwinners and maintaining a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.7 or higher in at least their second academic year.
WAYMIRE, MELCHERT RETURN TO LEAD HAWKEYES
Junior Madison Waymire made history in 2015 becoming the first Hawkeye since 2000 to lead the team in six straight races. She posted her collegiate-best 17:22.7 in 5,000 meters at Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 7 and finished in a season-high third place at the Illinois State Invite on Sept. 11. Waymire leads a young team with 16 freshmen on the roster in 2016.
Junior Michael Melchert returns as the men’s top finisher from a year ago. The Monticello, Iowa native, led Iowa in three races last season, highlighted by his third-place (24:14.1) finish at the Bradley Pink Classic on Oct. 16. Melchert returns to Iowa as one of its top finishers at the Big Ten Championships last year.
ASSISTANT COACH
Jon Michael Brandt is in his third season volunteer assistant coach. Brandt was a five-time letterwinner for Iowa, finishing his collegiate career with a 15th place finish at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships in the 10,000 meters.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
The Hawkeye cross country team is comprised of 50 student-athletes — 20 men and 30 women. The men’s team has five freshmen, eight sophomores, two juniors, and five seniors. The women’s team has 16 freshmen, seven sophomores, three juniors, and four seniors.
HAWKEYES IN THE TOP 10
Junior Michael Melchert cracked Iowa’s top 10 All-Time performers in 2015 at the Big Ten Championships in the 8,000-meter race. Melchert led Iowa, placing 17th overall with a time of 23.57.5 that ranks 10th in Iowa history. Junior Madison Waymire followed suit in the 6,000-meter race at the Big Ten Championships, earning the No. 10 spot in Iowa history with an official time of 21:01.
HAWKEYES HOST NCAA REGIONAL
The Hawkeyes are proud to be hosting the 2016 NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 11 at the Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City. The meet will be televised live by the Big Ten Network for the first time in its history. The women’s 6,000-meter race begins at 11 a.m. (CT) and the men’s 10,000-meter race starts at 12 p.m. (CT).
