As the spring season winds down, each week gets more important to the Hawkeye teams still competing. Hawkeye track and field competed in the Big Ten Championships last week and Iowa baseball battled Illinois in the Hawkeyes' final conference series of the regular season.
Let's take a closer look.
Olympic Spotlight: Track and Field
Hawkeye track and field took part in the Big Ten Championships over the weekend, with Iowa's men's side finishing 2nd in the team standings and the women's side finishing 7th. The Hawks took home conference titles in four events and earned seven All-Conference awards.
Iowa kicked off the weekend with a conference title, meet record, and Olympic Trial qualifying mark in the men's javelin. On his final throw, sophomore Mike Stein launched an 81.19m throw that won gold and ranks second in Division I this season.
Freshman Austin Busch put up a big number in the men's hammer throw as well, tossing a 66.70m mark that is the 4th-best in school history.
Saturday was moving day for the Hawks, as they sent ten individuals to Sunday's finals. The Hawkeyes also earned another All-Big Ten honor when Tionna Tobias finished 2nd in the women's long jump with a 6.23m leap.
Saturday's qualifying success paid off on Sunday, as Iowa athletes were able to bring home two more conference titles and a host of points toward the team championships. Kat Moody kicked off Sunday's events with a 1st place finish in the women's discus, tossing a 59.31m throw on the final attempt of the event. Her mark is a new personal best and 3rd-best all-time at Iowa.
The Hawkeye relay teams took Moody's momentum and ran with it. The women's 4x100 finished 4th to earn points for the group and then the men's 4x100 team of Kalen Walker, Gratt Reed, De’Andre Stapleton Jr., and Damoy Allen brought home the gold for the Hawkeyes. The Hawks were in 4th place heading into the anchor leg in lane 6, but Allen found another gear and blew past the competition to bring home the win. The group's 39.28 time is the 7th-best in Iowa history.
The Hawks also brought home the gold in the men's 4x400 relay. Isaac Lewis, Josh Pugh, Connor Belken, and Rivaldo Marshall won it for the Hawkeyes, finishing in 3:05.68 to clinch the men's 2nd place finish.
Other big Sunday performances included Pugh finishing 2nd in the men's 400 and Paige Magee finishing 2nd in the women's 100m hurdles. Each earned All-Conference honors for their performance, giving Magee six such honors in her career. Alli Bookin-Nosbisch finished 3rd in the women's 800m and Rivaldo Marshall finished 4th in the men's 800m race. Walker and Allen finished 3-4 in the men's 100m final and Mariel Bruxvoort and Issac Lewis finished 3rd in the women's and men's 400m hurdles respectively.
In the field, freshman Daniela Wamokpego's 13.21m triple jump improved on her 3rd-best mark in school history and earned her 4th place, while Jordan Johnson threw 58.03m in the discus to claim 4th place.
It was another strong showing for the Hawkeyes, especially on the men's side where the team has finished no lower than 3rd since 2019. The Hawkeyes continued their successful trend, seeing longtime performers like Magee, Walker, Tobias, and Moody come through on the big stage. At the same time, young stars like Pugh and Wamokpego ensure that the future remains bright as well.
The margins at postseason meets are so small and Iowa easily could have found itself with multiple additional All-Conference honors and even conference titles. Magee clipped one of the last hurdles in her race and the Hawkeyes had multiple runners on Saturday just miss qualifying for Sunday's finals.
Still, the athletes and coaching staff appeared pleased with their performances, but remain hungry to put their best marks of the year together at the NCAA Regionals. That meet kicks off May 22nd for the Hawkeyes, who will be competing in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Baseball
Hawkeye baseball (29-20, 14-10) dropped two of three against the Big Ten's top team, Illinois (30-17, 15-6), falling 10-5 in the opener, bouncing back to win the second game 10-4 and then losing 6-3 in Sunday's rubber match.
The Illini came out swinging in game one, scoring nine runs in the first four innings to take a 9-4 lead. Iowa stayed within striking distance thanks in part to a Ben Wilmes two-run home run in the 4th inning, but neither team was able to get much offense going in the back half of the game. The Hawkeyes allowed six runs with two outs and committed two errors in the game. Cade Obermueller returned from injury to start the game but lasted just 1 1/3 innings before the call was made to turn to the bullpen.
The Hawks knew they were going up against the best in the conference, but they looked outmatched for much of Friday's game. As the saying goes though, momentum is the next day's starting pitcher and the Hawkeyes had one of the best in the country slated to start Saturday in Brody Brecht.
Brecht was once again brilliant in Saturday's start, pitching seven innings while allowing three runs and striking out nine. In the 2nd inning, Brecht notched his 111th strikeout of the season, giving him the school record for strikeouts in a season, previously held by Jim Magrane (1999).
The Hawkeye offense did their part to keep the pressure off of Brecht, launching three home runs in the first four innings. Davis Cop put the Hawks ahead with a solo shot in the 1st inning, and after another Iowa run in the 2nd, the Hawkeyes went back-to-back in the 3rd inning to push the Iowa lead to 5-0.
An RBI single from Cop in the 4th put the Hawkeyes up 6-0. The Illini got three back in the bottom of the 6th inning and dinged the bullpen for a solo shot in the bottom of the 8th to put Illinois within striking distance at 6-4. The game looked like it might have been headed for a tense finish until Ben Wilmes came up huge in the top of the 9th inning, smashing a grand slam to secure the win for Iowa.
Brecht has been on an absolute tear over the past month, showcasing all of the tools that have MLB scouts drooling over the possibility of drafting him this July. He has been a stopper for the Hawkeyes and the team has a different swagger when they know he's on the mound.
The Hawkeyes hoped that Saturday's momentum would carry them into the rubber match on Sunday, but that didn't pan out. Iowa took the early lead once again, with an Andy Nelson leadoff home run, and doubled their lead when Connor Hennings mashed his first career long ball in the 2nd inning.
Marcus Morgan worked around traffic on the bases in the first two inning, but after getting two outs in the 3rd inning, the Illini responded with three home runs and piled on five runs before the Hawks could escape the inning. The Hawks clawed one back in the 4th inning and the bullpen was steady through the later innings, but the Iowa offense wasn't able to get anything going and the one bad inning ultimately doomed the Hawkeyes, who fell 6-3.
Iowa finishes their season 14-10 in Big Ten play and sit sixth in the conference standings. Much of the Big Ten still has one more conference series so the standings are not finalized, but it looks likely that the Hawks will have to take the long route to their next conference tournament championship, which they will likely need to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Inconsistency on the mound, from the bullpen early in the season and from some of the starters in recent weeks caused a few games the Hawkeyes will feel like they could have won to slip away, but the group has shown that they can compete with the top of the conference when they're at their best. Brecht continues to look like the best pitcher in the Big Ten and the offense put together solid offensive games against the Illini, showcasing both the long ball and the ability to manufacture runs.
Coach Heller is known for imbuing his team with a never-quit attitude so I expect we'll see the best the Hawkeyes can offer when the Big Ten Tournament starts in a few weeks. We've seen this team make postseason runs before and this group certainly has the talent and experience to pull off something similar this season. Before the tournament starts, the Hawks will play a three-game set against Florida International (25-25) this weekend in Des Moines.
Gymnastics
Iowa gymnastics coach Larissa Libby resigned on Monday, May 13 after more than 20 years in charge of the GymHawks. Libby was placed on administrative leave in March after the University of Iowa received complaints from current athletes and announced an internal investigation into the team's culture.
Under Libby, twelve Hawkeyes earned All-American honors, including six first-team honorees. Iowa also won the 2021 Big Ten regular season title.
UI has not released any results from the internal investigation at this time. Jessa Hansen Parker has been named interim head coach while a search for a new head coach commences.
