Olympic Spotlight: UI Track and Field Sets Four School Records
It was a tough week for many Iowa sports teams last week, as Iowa softball and baseball struggled in their entrance to conference play. One team that has seemingly been immune to tough weeks is Iowa track and field. The Hawkeyes were split across five different locations, but that didn't stop them from setting four separate school records.
Let's take a closer look.
OLYMPIC SPOTLIGHT: IOWA TRACK AND FIELD
Iowa track and field competed in five separate meets over the weekend, from California to Texas to Florida. The Hawks kicked off competition on Friday at the Texas Relays with Mariel Beauxvort and Paige Magee each qualifying for the finals in the 400m hurdles. Beauxvort finished the event in 57.18s, the 6th-fastest time in school history.
In javelin, two Hawkeye freshmen put up top-10 marks. Lizzy Korczak threw 44.29m, good for 9th all-time at Iowa and Mike Stein threw 68.01m, 4th-best in Iowa history.
The Hawkeyes were in action coast to coast on Saturday. The record-breaking started early in Texas when James Carter Jr. set a school record in the Men's triple jump with a 16.68m jump that also won the event. Iowa Coach Joey Woody mentioned that Carter felt a bit slighted by not being placed in the A section of the meet and if that was the case, he certainly made his presence known with the huge mark, well beyond his previous personal best. Max Murphy wanted in on the fun too, breaking the Iowa record in the Men's 5,000-meter race with a 13:39.77 time at the Stanford Invite.
The two school records were the headline performances Saturday, but they weren't the only ones showing out. Lia Love ran the 2nd-fastest women's 100m time (11.21), the women's 4x800 relay team of Jaiden Itson, Grace Bookin–Nosbisch, Clare Pitcher, and Katie Moore put up the 5th-fastest time in school history (8:49.00), and the men's 4x800 team of Ryan Schreiner, Martin Strong, Armando Bryson and Spencer Gudgel ran the 6th-fastest time in Iowa history (7:26).
Even after two strong days, the Hawks weren't done on Sunday. Texas was again the site of history as the men's 4x100 relay team (Kalen Walker, Austin Kresley, Gratt Reed, and Damoy Allen) set a school record with a blistering 38.70s time, besting the previous record by more than three-tenths of a second. Not content with just a single school record on the day, Kresley also set a school record in the Men's 100m, running a 10.19s race. Walker was right behind him, finishing in 10.20s to claim 2nd all-time at Iowa.
Reed set another top-10 mark in the 110m hurdles with a 13.50s finish (5th-best), Lia Love followed up her Saturday performance with another top-10 time in the women's 200m (23.23s, 6th all-time), Tesa Roberts and Chloe Larsen set top-10 marks in the women's 400m down in Florida with Roberts finishing in 52.95 (7th-best) and Larsen close behind at 53.64 (9th-best), and the two, along with Audrey Biermann and Jaiden Itson combined for a top-10 4x400 relay time (3:35.17, 5th-best).
This past weekend has a real case to be one of the best weekends in program history. Four school records spanning every phase of track and field, more than a dozen top-10 marks and a slew of personal bests is a pretty high bar and underscores how strong this team is right now. It's coming from freshmen and seniors, established stars and breakout performers.
The team is showcasing its depth and breadth of talent and while it may not all come together at once like this every week, this group is going to be pushing for school records all season long. The men's team was ranked #12 in this week's national rankings, while the women's team checked in at #17.
Iowa track and field will take a week off before splitting up again next week to take part in meets in California, Iowa, and Florida.
HAWKEYE WHIPAROUND
Iowa gymnastics took part in the Norman Regional meet last week, finishing just short of qualifying for the Regional final with a 3rd-place 196.500. Kentucky (197.475) and Alabama (197.375) advanced from the meet. Adeline Kenlin finished 2nd on Beam with a 9.925, while Jerquavia Henderson finished 2nd on Floor with a 9.925 of her own and also finished 2nd in the All-Around, scoring 39.500.
The Hawkeyes came up short of another magical postseason run, but there is still a lot to be proud of from another successful Iowa gymnastics season. Henderson and Kenlin were bona fide stars, the team set a school-record score early in the year, and hosted the Big Ten Championships in front of a crowd of over 3,000.
The group was never able to put together a full performance like they were in a few of their early-season meets, but there were many promising signs for both the short and long term for the squad. Congrats to Coach Libby and the entire Iowa gymnastics team on a great season.
Iowa baseball went 1-2 to open conference play last week, dropping their first two games against Maryland before rallying to avoid the sweep on Sunday. The Hawks got off to a blazing start in Friday's game, taking an early 5-0 lead on the back of a Keaton Anthony grand slam in the 1st inning. Brody Brecht put together another impressive start, striking out 13 Terrapins while hitting 104 mph (!) on the radar gun.
Unfortunately, what looked to be a Hawkeye blowout turned into a back-and-forth affair in the late innings. Maryland rallied to take a 7-6 lead after six and after the Hawks tied it in the 7th, Maryland added three more runs in the 8th. Iowa again tried to rally, but came up a run short, falling 10-9. It was a disappointing loss to start the series and Maryland took advantage of the momentum to earn the 7-4 win Saturday.
The Terps took the early lead this time, 3-0 after two innings. Iowa rallied to take a 4-3 lead after seven, but Maryland again came back late to seal the win, scoring three in the 8th and one more in the 9th to pull away.
The Hawks showed some resilience Sunday, winning 12-8 on the back of a 9-run 5th inning. Iowa trailed 6-1 going into the inning before the bats came alive to flip the script. Sam Hojnar hit a three-run homer during the big inning, and the Hawks also got big days from Kyle Huckstorf (3-5, 3 RBIs), and Cade Moss (3-5).
That weekend will likely sting for the Hawkeyes, who probably feel like they should have come away with three wins instead of one. Friday's game was a costly loss and the bullpen looks to be in a bit of a slump. On the bright side, the offense continues to be potent enough to keep this team in most games.
Brody Brecht's early-season performance continues to impress as well. He's got MLB talent, his control continues to improve from last season, and he was named a Midseason All-American by Perfect Game USA earlier this week. Brecht is 2-1 with a 2.60 ERA this season with 59 strikeouts. He's 11th nationally in Ks and 3rd in Ks/9 innings (15.77).
The Hawkeyes will face Bradley on Wednesday, before traveling to take on Indiana next weekend.
Iowa softball lost the first two games of its series against #20 Northwestern last weekend, before bouncing back to take the finale 6-5. The Hawks hung tight with the Wildcats in Friday's game forcing the game into extra innings tied at two. Northwestern scored in the 8th, but the Hawks matched to keep the game going. The score remained tied until the 10th when Northwestern broke the game open with a five-run inning, ultimately winning 8-3. Breanna Vasquez pitched a complete game, striking out ten and allowing just three earned runs. Sammy Diaz put together a strong game at the plate, going 2-4 with an RBI.
The teams played a doubleheader on Sunday, with Northwestern taking the first game 5-0, before the Hawks battled back to take the second game 6-5. Jalen Adams pitched 6+ innings for the Hawks in game one without allowing an earned run, and Northwestern had only a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the 7th. Unfortunately, the Hawkeye defense fell apart a bit and the Wildcats were able to score four runs, snuffing out any chance of an Iowa comeback.
Like the baseball team, the softball team showed some resilience in game two, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to a Grace Banes RBI double and a Brylee Klosterman home run. The Wildcats tied the game up in the 5th inning, but the Hawks answered with two more runs to push the lead to 5-3. Northwestern again rallied in the 6th and the game remained tied until the bottom of the 7th when the Hawkeyes scored the winning run on Tristin Doster's walk-off single.
The Hawks competed with nationally ranked Northwestern all weekend, but they learned how small the margin for error is against the best teams in the conference. The Wildcats took advantage of Iowa's errors in the first two games, turning tense games into blowouts. While their record isn't quite what they would hope (22-15 overall, 4-4 Big Ten), it's still markedly improved from last season, when Iowa won 21 games total and just three games in the entire Big Ten season.
Iowa men's golf finished ninth at the Calusa Cup earlier this week, led by a 30th-place finish for Ronan Kleu (+11). Kleu notched nine birdies at the tournament, including five in the final round. The Hawks hosted the tournament, which included four top-five-ranked teams, and put together their best score of the weekend Tuesday afternoon with a final round 299 (+11).
Hawkeye tennis beat Purdue 4-0 on Friday before falling 4-2 to Indiana on Sunday. Against Purdue, the Hawks earned the doubles point, before following it up with wins on courts three (Daianne Hayashida), four (Vipasha Mehra), and six (Pia Kranholdt).
The Hawks also earned the doubles point against Indiana but were only able to follow it up with one victory in the singles portion of the meet, Sam Mannix on court two. The Hawks will continue their conference play with two more matches this week, at Penn State on Friday and Ohio State this coming Sunday.