Hawkeye Fan Shop — A Black & Gold Store | Hawk Talk Monthly — April | 24 Hawkeyes to Watch 2018-19
IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa junior Laulauga Tausaga was named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Athlete of the Week on Tuesday.
The Spring Valley, California, native had a record-breaking weekend in her home state at the Mt. SAC Relays and Beach Invitational on Thursday and Saturday.
“After last year’s season, Laulauga and I had a good chat about goals and things we wanted to accomplish,” Iowa throws coach Eric Werskey said. “Since then, she has committed herself to doing the little things properly. This added to her being self-driven and makes her very special. This is taking her to new levels.”
The weekend was packed full of school records for Tausaga. She started on Thursday, throwing the hammer throw record (61.34 meters, 201-3).
The trend continued on Saturday with the discus. She threw 62.28 meters (204-4) to lead the Big Ten and tie the NCAA leading mark, but the real feat of the weekend was the shot put competition. After a rough start to the season, she hit a huge mark of 18.02 meters (59-1 1/2) to break her third school record of the week. Her mark ranks first in the Big Ten and ranks second in the NCAA.
Tausaga is the first Hawkeye to earn the outdoor honor, but this is the second time this year she was named National Athlete of the Week. She won during the indoor season after throwing the weight throw school record (23.26 meters, 76-3 3/4).
The Hawkeyes travel to the Drake Relays on April 25-27 to compete in their last regular-season meet of the year. More details are linked on hawkeyesports.com/trackschedule.
.
