Olympic Spotlight: McClear Takes Share of B1G Golf Title

Rain washed out most of Iowa's Sunday competition, but the shortened schedule was still enough for some impressive Hawkeye performances, including an individual conference title.

Let's take a look.

The Iowa men's golf team competed at the Big Ten Conference Championship over the weekend. The team finished tied for 5th, led by senior Mac McClear, who earned a share of the conference title.

The third round was canceled due to bad weather, but McClear had his full arsenal going from the first tee. On Friday, McClear battled the rain and wind to post a 73 (+2). He started the tournament with three straight birdies, notching four in the round. On Saturday, McClear moved up the leaderboard, shooting a season-low 66 (-5). He tallied five birdies on the day while avoiding any bogies. His two-round total of 139 (-3) was matched only by Northwestern's Daniel Svard and once Sunday's round was canceled, the two were named co-champions.

The anticlimactic finish this year shouldn't take away from how good McClear has been for the Hawkeyes in his time here. McClear is Iowa's first-ever two-time conference champion, winning his first title as a sophomore, and the first Hawkeye golfer to earn five event titles since Lonnie Nielsen in 1976. Mac has been a steady force through an odd stretch in collegiate sports, posting solid scores from the moment he stepped on campus and consistently producing throughout his tenure. Posting a season-best score in the biggest tournament of the year thus far is a testament to his calm under pressure.

The Hawkeyes will hope to hear their names when the regional competitors are announced on May 3rd. The top 81 teams and 45 individuals will compete starting May 15th.

As has become the norm, the Hawkeye track and field team put together another impressive weekend of performances, including breaking multiple school records as the squad split up between the Desert Heat Classic and the Drake Relays. The big performances started on Friday when Kat Moody won both the women's shot put and discus events with a 16.46m throw in the shot put and a 53.60m throw in the discus. The men's 4x1,600m relay of Yohana Yual, Ian Geisler, Jack Pendergast, and Hayden Kuhn also ran the 9th-fastest time in school history (17:11.68).

Saturday was full of history-making performances for the Hawks. Mike Stein broke the Iowa men's javelin record with a 75.59m mark on his final throw. Soon after, Austin Kresley claimed another school record, running the fastest 200m in school history at 20.32.

Siblings Alli and Grace Bookin-Nosbisch also put together big performances, finishing one-two in the women's 800m, with Alli's 2:04.67 time ranking second in school history and Grace's 2:05.49 ranking fourth. In the men's 400m hurdles, Julien Gillum and Austin West each posted top-10 marks, finishing in 49.73 (3rd-best) and 50.26 (5th-best) respectively.

Two women's relay groups set top-10 marks as well, with the 4x100 team of LaSarah Hargrove, Lia Love, Alexandria Edison, and Paige Magee running the 3rd-fastest race in school history (44.10) and the 4x400 team of Ali Dorn, Chloe Larsen, Audrey Biermann, and Mariel Bruxvoort ran the school's fifth-fastest time (3:35.10). Jenoah Mckiver also continued his promising return to competition, running a season-best 45.25 in the men's 400m.

Hawkeye athletes continue to shine week in and week out, and it continues to be encouraging to see the group break records in short-distance, long-distance, and field events. Combine that with the multiple top-10 marks being posted each week and the return of some athletes dealing with nagging injuries and you have a potential recipe for something special. The #8 ranked Hawkeyes will next compete on May 6th at the Dr. Tucker Open.

The collegiate athletes weren't the only group to compete at last weekend's Drake Relays, many of Iowa's recruiting commits and recruiting targets were there as well. You can read all about their performance here.

Iowa baseball split a doubleheader against Penn State over the weekend, winning the first game 9-6, before falling in the second, 8-3. The third game of the series was rained out on Sunday. On Tuesday Iowa also welcomed Illinois State to town for a rematch of a tough loss a few weeks back, this time coming away with a 7-4 win.

The Hawkeyes scored early in game one of the Saturday doubleheader, but a tough day on the mound for Brody Brecht saw the Hawks fall behind 5-3 after two innings. You can read more on Brecht's start here.

The Hawkeyes battled back in a big way though, putting up a huge five spot in the top of the 5th inning to go up 9-5, punctuated by a grand slam from Keaton Anthony, who went 5-6 in the game. The Nittany Lions managed just one run after the first two innings as the Hawkeye bullpen cooled the early PSU onslaught and then shut down any hopes of a comeback. Jack Whitlock was a huge part of the bullpen effort, throwing 5.1 innings and striking out five.

Penn State again struck early in game two, going up 4-0 after two innings. This time, the early deficit proved too much for the Iowa bats to overcome. The Hawks again put up a big 5th inning, scoring three runs, but PSU answered with three of their own in the 6th to quash the Hawkeye comeback.

It was a tough day on the mound for the Hawks but they showed the same resilience that has carried them throughout the year to fight back and take game one. Game two will sting, considering the Hawks gave up eight runs on just four hits, but there were still some positives to take away from the weekend. The Hawkeyes constantly had traffic on the base paths but couldn't capitalize, stranding 24 runners on base between the two games.

Iowa has struggled with midweek games throughout the season, but they avoided the trap on Tuesday, topping Illinois State. The Redbirds struck first, taking a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning, but Iowa roared back with a three-run home run from Brennen Dorighi in the bottom of the inning. ISU continued to plate runs, but a Sam Hojnar home run followed by Dorighi's 2nd home run blast of the game gave Iowa a 6-4 lead after five innings. Hojnar added one more RBI in the 8th, securing the 7-4 win.

Iowa baseball's next conference series is scheduled for next weekend when Ohio State (22-22 overall, 5-13 Big Ten) comes to town for a three-game series.

Iowa softball dropped a midweek game to Iowa State on Wednesday before bouncing back to take two of three from Rutgers over the weekend. Against the Cyclones, Iowa jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning, but the Cyclones scored three in the 3rd inning to take the lead. ISU added a run in the 5th and three more in the 6th, pulling away to eventually win 7-4. Sammy Diaz was a standout at the plate in the game, driving in two runs in the game.

The Hawks also lost the first game against Rutgers, 5-3, after falling short in a late-inning comeback attempt. Similar to Wednesday's game, the Hawks fell behind early, 5-1 after four innings. The Hawkeye bats were quiet for most of the day, but in the 6th, Iowa rallied. Denali Loecker and Nia Carter were stars at the plate, with Loecker going 1-3 with a home run and three RBIs and Carter going 3-3. Loecker pitched in the game as well, throwing 4.2 innings while allowing just two runs on five hits.

Iowa's bats woke up for the final two games of the series, starting with a 7-4 win over Rutgers on Saturday. It was the Hawks jumping out to an early lead this time, with Loecker and Carter each driving in a run in the 1st inning and Carter driving in another in the 2nd. The Scarlet Knights rallied to tie the game at three after four innings, but a four-run 5th for the Hawkeyes was enough to lock up the victory. It was Carter again in the 5th, this time driving in two runs with the RBI single to break the game open.

Sunday's rubber match was a rollercoaster game full of big innings and lead changes. Iowa scored five runs in the first inning, powered by Tory Bennett's two-RBI single and Grace Banes' RBI single. Rutgers answered back with four in the 2nd inning and took a 6-5 lead after scoring two in the 4th inning.

The Hawks wasted no time retaking the lead, scoring two of their own in the 4th on a Denali Loecker two-run home run. In the 6th inning, Loecker launched her second home run of the game, this time a three-run shot, but she was called out for missing first base, limiting the lead to just 9-6. Fortunately, the lead proved more than enough, as Loecker came in on the mound in the 7th and earned the save.

It was an exciting weekend of softball, full of big innings and late rallies. Loecker was the star on the mound and at the plate and Nia Carter continued her year-long heater at the plate, coming through in the clutch over and over to drive in runs for the Hawks. Iowa will host Northern Iowa in their final home game on Wednesday, before traveling to Madison for the final series of the year against Wisconsin.

Iowa tennis competed in the Big Ten Tournament last week, winning their first match against Indiana, before falling in their next match against Illinois. The Hawks took care of business against Indiana after a first-round bye but weren't able to repeat their upset win over Illinois to reach the semifinals.

The Hawks actually won the doubles point to start the match against the Illini, but Illinois rebounded to claim the first three singles points on courts two, four, and six. Pia Kranholdt earned a win on court five to keep Iowa's hopes alive, but Samantha Mannix lost a three-set thriller on court one, that gave the Illini the clinching win. The Hawkeyes are planning to accept a postseason bid to the newly established NIT, which begins on May 17th.

Iowa rowing picked up a pair of wins in the highly competitive Pac-12 invite over the weekend. On Saturday, the Hawks raced #7 Cal and #4 Stanford, picking up a win over the Cardinal in the II Varsity Four race. The Hawks hung with the top-10 programs in the other seven races but weren't able to pick up any other wins.

On Sunday the Hawks were back in the water against #13 SMU where they picked up another race win. This time, it was the Hawkeyes' I Varsity Four boat that won, topping SMU by three seconds. It was another encouraging performance for the rowing crew, who got a taste of top competition and came away with a few wins. It's the perfect combination of achievement and motivation and hopefully, the Hawks will continue to build on the momentum at the Big Ten Championships on May 14th.