IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa track and field earned three United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Midwest Regional honors, the USTFCCCA announced its regional award winners Thursday.
Iowa Director of Track and Field Joey Woody was named USTFCCCA Midwest Region Men’s Coach of the Year, Jason Wakenight was named USTFCCCA Midwest Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year and freshman Jenoah McKiver was named USTFCCCA Midwest Region Men’s Track Athlete of the Year.
Woody collected a Coach of the Year honor for the second time this season and McKiver earned his second Athlete of the Year honor in as many days. The Big Ten Conference previously named Woody its Men’s Coach of the Year on March 2 and voted McKiver Men’s Track Athlete of the Year yesterday.
The Hawkeyes defended their indoor conference title behind McKiver’s 600-meter title and a win in the 4×400-meter relay (Everett Steward, Julien Gillum, Armando Bryson and McKiver). The Big Ten Championship was the fourth overall for Woody and the Hawkeyes since 2019 (’19 and ’21 outdoors, ’21 and ’22 indoors).
Events coached by Wakenight scored 66 of the team’s 117 points from the 200-, 400-, 600-, 800- and 4×400-meter and DMR squads at the Big Ten Championships. Those events produced a pair of Big Ten titles, two additional individual medalists and a dozen more point-scorers. The Iowa men broke seven school records this indoor season with three of those coming under Wakenight’s guidance.
The Hawkeye men sent the second-most entries (10) of any team in the country to the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships, behind only Arkansas (11). Three Hawkeyes earned first team All-America honors in the 400 meters (McKiver, runner-up; Chadrick Richards, 6th; Wayne Lawrence, Jr.; 7th) and Tyler Lienau finished eighth place in the weight throw to achieve first team All-America status.
Additionally, two Hawkeyes finished as second team All-Americans in the 60-meter hurdles (Grant Conway, Gratt Reed). Kalen Walker (60 meters), Austin West (heptathlon) and Nik Curtiss (shot put) also ended their indoor seasons as second team All-Americans, as well as the 4×400-meter relay team of Richards, Julien Gillum, Lawrence, Jr., and McKiver. Iowa ended the indoor season ranked No. 1 in the Midwest Region and No. 18 nationally. The Hawkeyes reached as high as No. 6 nationally this season, the best ranking in school history.
The USTFCCCA honor is the sixth of Woody’s career. He earned head coach honors following the 2021 indoor and outdoor seasons and 2019 outdoor season, and was named Midwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2011. This is the first Regional Assistant Coach of the Year honor of Wakenight’s career.
McKiver finished runner-up in the 400 meters (45.65) at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 12, earning first team All-America honors. He also anchored the second team All-America 4×400-meter relay.
The Hawkeye had one of the best indoor seasons in Iowa history – breaking three school records in a two-week span. McKiver ran the seventh-fastest 600 meters ever collegiately (all tracks and surfaces) at the Meyo Invite (1:15.36). The following week at the Tyson Invite, he broke the 400-meter record (45.39) and anchored the school record 4×400-meter relay that bested the previous record by over two seconds (3:02.40) — the second-fastest time in the NCAA this season.