- Heading into outdoor season, Iowa track and field looks to capitalize on historic success at the indoor championships.
- The women’s team placed third at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 24, matching the program’s best finish set last year. The Hawkeyes tallied 73 points and sent three qualifiers to the NCAA Indoor Championships.
- On the men’s side, junior Rivaldo Marshall became the first 800-meter national champion in program history, racing 1:46.96 for the gold at nationals last weekend.
- Iowa placed ninth at the NCAA Indoor Championships with 21 points, good for the second-highest finish at the meet in school history. Iowa had four qualifiers and three first-team All-Americans.
- In total, the Hawkeyes set seven school records during the indoor season:
- Lia Love – Women’s 60m (7.24)
- Kalen Walker – Men’s 60m (6.51)
- Paige Magee –Women’s 60m Hurdles (7.99)
- Alli Bookin-Nosbisch – Women’s 800m (2:03.42)
- Rivaldo Marshall – Men’s 800m (1:46.86)
- Sean Smith – Men’s Weight Throw (22.28m | 73′ 1.25″)
- Daniela Wamokpego – Women’s Triple Jump (13.24m | 43’ 5.25”)
- Both squads return considerable production from last outdoor season. The men’s team placed third at the conference outdoor meet in 2023. The group retains 22 individual Big Ten place-finishers and 10 NCAA Outdoor Championships entries from last season.
- That includes senior Max Murphy, who was runner-up at the Big Ten Championships in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.
- In addition, the Hawkeyes bring back a senior quartet of Kalen Walker, Austin Kresley, De’Andre Stapleton Jr. and Gratt Reed that placed eighth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last season in the 4×100. The group also finished as Big Ten runners-up.
- West is Iowa’s top returner from nationals last season, where he placed third with 8,054 points in the decathlon.
- The women’s team returns eight entries from the NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring; senior Paige Magee competed in three events at nationals, including the 100-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles and 4×400-meter relay.
- Senior Tionna Tobias was a Big Ten Champion last season in the women’s heptathlon.
THIS WEEK
The Hawkeyes begin outdoor competition at the USF Alumni Invitational in Tampa, Florida, on March 15-16. The event is hosted at USF Track & Field Stadium. Action gets underway at 9 a.m. on Friday (CT) and 10 a.m. on Saturday.
HOW TO FOLLOW ALONG
Live streams and results can be found on the track and field schedule page at hawkeyesports.com. Updates and results will also be posted on the team’s official ‘X’ account (iowaXC_TF).
LIFE IN THE FAST LANE: RIVALDO MARSHALL
Senior Rivaldo Marshall became Iowa’s first national champion in the 800 meters last weekend. Marshall ran just one-tenth of a second behind his program-record 1:46.86 set at the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 10. The Kingston, Jamaica, native arrived in Iowa City this season by way of Indian Hills Community College, where he was an NJCAA Indoor National Champion in the 800 meters last year. Marshall has competed in just four meets as a Hawkeye. In addition to victories at the Tyson Invite and NCAA Championships, Marshall won the 800 meters on Dec. 9 at the Jimmy Grant Invitational in Iowa City; he was subsequently USTFCCCA Men’s National DI Athlete of the Week. Marshall placed fifth in the 800 (1:49.32) and anchored the 4×400-meter relay team to a third-place finish (3:07.48) at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.
HAWKEYE HISTORY AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Iowa men’s track and field completed the second-highest finish in program history at NCAA Indoor Nationals last season. Seniors Rivaldo Marshall, Kalen Walker and Austin West were each first-team All-Americans. Marshall’s victory in the 800 meters earned 10 team points. Marshall was a four-time NJCAA All-American at Indian Hills each of the past two seasons. Senior Kalen Walker, another Indian Hills product, added eight points with a runner-up finish in the 60 meters. The Eddyville, Iowa, native raced 6.59 to finish one-hundredth of a second ahead of Texas Tech’s Don’Dre Swint in third place. Walker, who entered the season as a two-time All-American second teamer, was, just five-hundredths of a second behind event champion Terrence Jones. In the heptathlon, West tacked on three more team points; his 3,309 heptathlon points were just 75 points shy of his personal best. Senior Grant Conway was a second-team All-American in the 60-meter hurdles, placing 15th with a 7.81 mark.
PAIGE NOTES
Senior Paige Magee set a new school record in the 60-meter hurdles at the Big Ten Indoor Championships, becoming the first Hawkeye to run sub-eight. Magee raced 7.99 in the prelims, tying for the best time in the Big Ten and seventh nationally this season. Magee placed second in the finals at the conference meet, contributing to 22 points across three events (2nd in 60mH, 2nd in 4x400m, 3rd in 200m). Magee earned a bid to the NCAA Championships, where she was a second-team All-American in the 60-meter hurdles. Prior to this year, the Iowa record stood at 8.07, which Magee busted on three occasions. Magee heads into outdoor season already on the program top-10 list for five events.
RETURNING PRODUCTION
The Hawkeyes return five Big Ten Outdoor Championships medals on the men’s side and three conference medalists on the women’s side. Tionna Tobias was an outdoor Big Ten Champion in the women’s heptathlon last season, posting the second-best score in program history with 5,640 points. Paige Magee took runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles at the conference meet. Her 12.90 time in the 100-meter hurdles set a school record. Magee was a second-team All-American in the event at outdoor nationals; the women’s team also return four of five total All-American honorable mentions from last season. For the men, seven outdoor Iowa record-setters return. That group includes Kresley (100m, 200m), Murphy (1,500m, 5,000m), West (decathlon), junior Mike Stein (javelin) and the 4×100-meter relay group of Walker, Kresley, Stapleton Jr. and Reed.
THE BOOKIN-NOSBISCH CLUB
Twins Alli and Grace Bookin-Nosbisch have spilled serious ink in the annals of the Iowa record book. Alli sits atop the indoor 800 meters column with her 2:03.42 set this year at the Tyson Invite; she bettered her own record twice during indoor season. Grace ranks seventh in the same category with a 2:02.21 set this year. In the outdoor 800 meters, Alli ranks second with a time of 2:04.37, with Grace one step behind in fourth at 2:05.49. Both marks were set last season. In the indoor distance-medley relay, the duo shares real estate on the top line. Both were members of the 11:15.07 school-record team at Big Tens last season; that full group returns this year, including teammates Tesa Roberts and Amber Aesoph. The same squad ranks eighth on the program outdoor top 10 list.
UPDATING THE ALL-TIME LISTS
This season, the Hawkeyes made 33 updates to the program’s indoor top-10 lists:
- Women’s 60-meters: Love (1st), Duax (4th), Magee (8th)
- Men’s 60-meters: Walker (1st), Allen (3rd)
- Women’s 60-meter hurdles: Magee (1st), Tobias (3rd)
- Men’s 60-meter hurdles: Conway (4th)
- Men’s 200-meters: Reed (4th)
- Women’s 400-meters: Larsen (10th), Perry (7th)
- Women’s 600-meters: A. Bookin-Nosbisch (6th)
- Women’s 800-meters: A. Bookin-Nosbisch (1st), G. Bookin-Nosbisch (7th)
- Men’s 800-meters: Marshall (1st), Schreiner (5th), O’Connor (7th)
- Women’s 4×400: Biermann, Magee, Larsen, Perry (6th)
- Women’s Pentathlon: Tobias (3rd), Wirth (6th), Rochford (10th)
- Women’s High Jump: Wirth (6th)
- Men’s Weight Throw: Smith (2nd), Busch (4th)
- Women’s Weight Throw: Kofron (3rd), Bauer (5th)
- Women’s Shot Put: Kat Moody (2nd)
- Women’s Long Jump: Tobias (2nd), Zeffou-Poaty (3rd), Hutchins (8th)
- Women’s Triple Jump: Wamokpego (1st)
- Men’s Triple Jump: Irivi (7th)
- Heptathlon: Capaldo (6th)
UP NEXT
Iowa competes at the Clyde Hart Classic on March 22-23 in Waco, Texas.