The calendar turns to March this week, which means Iowa spring sports are in full swing. Track and field is concluding the indoor season, gymnastics is heading towards its own postseason, and softball and baseball are settling in to their schedules.

Let's take a closer look.

Hawkeye track and field competed at the Big Ten Indoor Championships last weekend, coming away with three individual titles, multiple school records, and top five finishes for both the men's and women's teams. The women's team finished fourth at the meet with 51 points, while the men's team finished fifth, also with 51 points.

The Hawks wasted no time earning conference titles, claiming two on the meet's opening day. Iowa freshman Pauline Bikembo won the women's pentathlon on Friday, setting a school record with a score of 4,330. She won the high jump portion of the event, finished second in the long jump, fourth in the 60m hurdles, and eighth in both the shot put and 800m races. Her complete effort earned Iowa its first pentathlon title since 2019.

On the men's side, Ryan Johnson continued his historic sophomore season with a Big Ten title in the men's weight throw. His 24.38m throw earned Iowa its first-ever men's weight throw title and was more than a meter further than the next closest finisher. Johnson has been nothing short of spectacular throughout the indoor season and now has the hardware to show for it.

The freshmen were on display throughout Friday's events. Emmanuel Njoku nearly claimed a conference title of his own, finishing second in the men's long jump with a 7.72m mark. His career-best jump ranks fifth in school history. Fellow freshman Abraham Vogelsong put up Iowa's third-best pole vault mark ever with a 5.15m vault and Chioma Nwachukwu capped her freshman conference season by running Iowa's third-fastest 400m race (52.07) to earn a spot in the event finals.

Saturday added one more title for the Hawkeyes, as Gabby Cortez put together a career-best 600m race to earn gold. Her 1:28.18 time is fourth in school history and gave the Hawkeyes their first title in the event since 2011.

The Hawkeyes brought home some other hardware on Saturday too. Both the men's and women's 4x400m relay teams finished second in their events. Landon Fontenot, Isaac Lewis, Terrick Johnson, and Zidane Brown finished the men's race in 3:06.18 while Olicia Lucas, Alivia Williams, Nwachukwu and Damaris Mutunga finished the women's section in 3:31.04.

Nwachukwu added a bronze medal in her 400m race, as did Sal Capaldo in the men's heptathlon where he put up a program record 5,528 points, and Johnson in the men's 600m race, finishing in 1:16.00, 2nd in school history.

The Hawkeye track and field team has to be ecstatic about the weekend's result. Three Big Ten titles in the first year of increased competition is a huge feat, made all the more impressive when you add in multiple school records and top-10 times. Nine women and ten men earned all-conference honors for the Hawkeyes. Perhaps most encouraging, seven Hawkeyes made the all-freshman team.

Both Johnson and Bikembo are underclassmen who have bright futures and Friday's show from the underclassmen was a glimpse at the potential of the program. Over the past five years, the Hawkeyes have had conference title contenders year in and year out. For the first time though, those competitors are some of the newest members of the team. The future is bright and even more exciting, the future is now.

The Hawkeyes will compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships, which begin on March 14th.

Iowa's GymHawks competed in the Big Four meet last weekend, finishing second with a score of 196.125. The meet was won by #7 Michigan State (197.150) and the Hawkeyes finished ahead of Washington (195.650) and #25 Penn State (195.475)

Karina Munoz continued to star for the Hawkeyes, winning the all-around title with a 39.225. Freshman Aurelie Tran wasn't far behind, finishing second with a 39.200. It wasn't just those two though, as the Hawkeyes impressed all over the gym. Iowa scored a season-high 49.175 on bars, led be Sydney Turner's 9.900 and Emily Erb tied for first on floor with a 9.900, her fourth score of 9.900 or higher on floor this season.

After a disappointing meet last weekend, the Hawkeyes responded with their cleanest meet of the season. Facing some of the best gymnasts in the country and head coach Jen Llewellyn's former team, Iowa responded with season-bests and event titles. The freshman continue to star, with Tran and Turner posting some of their best marks of the season.

In fact, Tran now ranks 8th in the Big Ten in the all-around and 13th on bars. Munoz and Erb each rank 9th in the Big Ten, on vault and floor respectively. The strong finish pushes Iowa's record to 5-4 in conference, good for fifth-best. The group has faced its share of ups and downs as they navigate newcomers on the roster and the coaching staff, but the Big Four meet showed the potential of this group when they're performing at their best.

The Hawkeyes will be back on the mat on Friday when they host Iowa State (6:30, BTN+)

Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball, and recruiting coverage. Sign up with Hawkeye Beacon here.

Iowa baseball (4-6) dropped three of four to Washington State (3-9) over the weekend before besting Loras (5-4) on Monday as they continued their non-conference schedule. The Hawks fell in the first three games 12-7, 7-4, and 6-4, before rebounding to take the finale against Washington State, 14-3. Iowa beat Loras 11-3 in a dominating Monday win to salvage some momentum from the weekend.

Thursday's opening game was barn-burner at the plate, but Iowa dug itself a 6-0 hole before their bats got going. It was a bullpen game for the Hawks and the team struggled to keep the Cougar batters off the bases. Iowa cut the lead to 6-2 in the 4th inning and 7-4 in the 5th, but a 6-run bottom of the 5th for Washington State blew the game open and proved too much to overcome. Gable Mitchell notched three hits in the game, and Caleb Wulf and Ben Wilmes drove in two runs each. Midweek games have historically been a struggle for the Hawkeyes and their opening midweek game this season looked similarly hard on the Hawks.

Friday's game was more competitive, but Iowa faltered late, ultimately falling 7-4. Wulf kicked off Iowa's scoring with a RBI double in the first inning and Cade Obermuller kept WSU off the scoreboard for his first three innings on the mound. In the top of the 4th, the Cougars plated two to take the lead, but Iowa answered back with a run in the 5th and another RBI from Wulf gave Iowa a 3-2.

Obermuller persevered through his six innings of work, giving up four runs and striking out seven. The Cougars added two runs each in the 6th and 7th, pushing their lead to 7-3. Iowa rallied for one run in the bottom of the 7th, but couldn't climb all the way back. Wulf finished the day 4-5 with three RBIs and Jackson Beaman hit his first home run of the season.

Saturday was perhaps the most frustrating game of the weekend for the Hawkeyes, as they lost a late lead before falling 6-4. The Hawks again jumped out to an early lead, scoring one in the top of the 1st, and Aaron Savary was solid on the mound, going 5.1 and striking out six. Washington State tied the game at one in the bottom of the third, but the Hawks responded with a run in each of the next three innings, leading 4-2 after six.

The Cougars cut the lead to 4-3 in the 7th and then pulled ahead with a three-run 8th inning that the Hawkeyes weren't able to answer. Beaman homered again in the game, but the Hawks stranded eleven runners on base in the game.

The Hawkeyes took out a weekend's worth of frustration on Sunday, beating WSU 14-3 in seven innings. Iowa was again hot at the plate early, and this time they left no room for a comeback. Wulf drove in his seventh run of the series to give Iowa a 1-0 lead in the 1st and Reese Moore broke the game home a few batters later with a three-run shot. The Hawkeyes piled it on with six more runs in the 3rd to take a 10-1 lead.

Reece Beuter put together a great start on the mound, throwing six innings and giving up three runs, never allowing the Cougars to put together a comeback. Mitchell and Moore were each 3-5 at the plate in the game and Iowa finished the game with a "walk-off" two-run home run from Blake Guerin.

The Hawks carried that offensive energy into Monday's match against Loras. It was another bullpen game for the Hawkeyes, but the group was more productive than they were on Thursday and the bats continued to jump on the opposition early. Iowa put up another four-spot in the 1st inning, with Wulf, Beaman, Daniel Rogers, and Andy Nelson each hitting RBI singles.

The score stayed 4-0 through four innings before Loras pulled one back. In the 6th, it was Guerin who again came up huge, fouling off pitch after pitch before sending a three-run long ball deep to center, giving Iowa a 7-1 lead.

Loras answered with two of their own in the 7th, but the Hawkeyes kept coming. Moore capped off a four-run 7th with a two-RBI triple, giving Iowa an 11-3 lead that would end up the final score.

The Hawkeyes are still searching for consistency in the early going. They've let a few close games slip away and came out flat against the Cougars over the weekend. Combine that with a few late leads lost and it feels like there's already a sense of missed opportunities to rack up wins. The team has the talent at the plate and the group has shown that they can be successful on the mound. If they can pair the two together regularly, they're more than capable of going on a win streak over the next few games.

They'll travel to Rutgers (4-7) this weekend to kick off conference play.

Iowa softball (13-5) went 3-2 last week at the Wooo Pig Classic. The Hawks beat Missouri State (1-15) 8-0 on Friday before falling 9-0 to #11 Arkansas (19-1). It was deja vu on Saturday as Iowa again beat MSU, this time 5-4, and fell to the Razorbacks 12-0. Iowa closed the weekend with a 3-1 win over Illinois (9-9).

The Hawks jumped to an early lead in the weekend's opening game, scoring two in the bottom of the first on the back of a Jena Young double and a two-run home run from Soo-Jin Berry. From there Jalen Adams locked down the Bears at the plate and the game remained 2-0 until the bottom of the 6th. In what became the game's final inning, the Hawks scored six times, highlighted by a Devin Simon RBI double and two bases loaded walks. Adams pitched a complete game and allowed just two hits.

Friday's second game was close early, but Arkansas showed why they are ranked among the country's best. The Hawks and Razorbacks were scoreless through two innings, but Arkansas broke the game open with a three-run bottom of the 3rd inning. They added four more in the 4th inning and two in the 5th to push the lead to 9-0 and get the win.

Saturday was a similar story for the Hawkeyes. In game one, they actually fell behind against Missouri State, giving up two runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Hannah Lindsay pulled one back for the Hawkeyes in the top of the 4th inning and Iowa took a 3-2 lead with two runs in the top of the 5th off an RBI from Young and a run from Avery Jackson on a MSU error. Jackson and Berry combined to drive in two more runs in the 7th to push the lead to 5-2, and those proved important, as the Bears would attempt to mount a rally in the bottom of the inning. Ultimately, Iowa would prevail 5-4.

Coming off the morning win, the Hawks were again overmatched against Arkansas. The Razorbacks scored once in the 1st inning and then blew the game open in the 2nd, plating seven runs to take a 8-0 lead. They would add four more in the 4th and win 12-0.

Iowa closed its weekend with a strong 3-1 conference win over the Illini. After two scoreless innings to start the game, Illinois would score their only run in the top of the 3rd. The Hawkeyes battled, and put together a three-run 4th inning to jump back in front.

Tatianna Roman drew a two-out bases loaded walk to tie the game and then it was Jena Young again coming up clutch, as she hit a single up the middle to drive in two. Jalen Adams was solid on the mound, giving up only three hits over the course of her complete game win.

It another good week for Iowa softball, who took care of business when they needed to and picked up and early conference win. The Hawks aren't on the level of the country's best quite yet, but young contributors like Berry and Young, and team mainstays like Jalen Adams are proving invaluable in setting a solid floor for the group.

They've got a few more weeks of non-conference play to continue piling up wins and momentum, but the true test will come once conference play starts. The group will be the first to admit that last season's conference results were disappointing, but the early results this season point towards more success in 2025.

They'll be back on the diamond starting next Friday when they compete in the Alabama Spring Break Showdown.

Both the men's and women's golf teams were on the course recently, with the men competing in the Colleton River Collegiate and the women competing in the Mountain View Collegiate.

The men's team finished 6th in their event, led by Max Tjoa and Gage Messingham's 17th place finish (+5). Messingham carded ten birdies in the competition, a team-high, while Tjoa birdied three holes in the final round.

The women's team sits in 6th after two rounds, led by Maura Peters, who is currently 8th at +3. Paula Miranda Hernandez and Ximena Benites are each tied for 33rd at +7.