The Hawkeyes will split competitors at the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa, and the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas this weekend.
The Tyson Invitational brings tough competition. The event includes eight top-25 programs — Arkansas (1), Florida (4), Texas (5), Kansas State (6), NC State (9), Tennessee (14), Baylor (17), and Oklahoma State (22).
With top level teams, Iowa Director of Track and Field Joey Woody believes this meet will serve as good preparation for the Big Ten Championships.
“It’s going to be exciting because we’ve got a lot of big invitational races that a lot of our athletes will be in,” Woody said. “We think that we have a good chance at scoring some big points at the Big Ten meet, but it’s going to take a lot of people that are going to championships healthy, but confident and fresh. I think this weekend will just want to continue to build that confidence.”
One Hawkeye that’s been confident and now fresh is sophomore Jahisha Thomas. After sitting out the first three competitions of the season, Thomas posted two personal bests at the Jan. 29-30 Razorback Invitational.
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The London native continued her success in the long jump by breaking a school record set by Zinnia Miller in 2014 to place second at the Meyo Invitational on Feb. 5.
“It’s been fun to see how she’s been able to develop in both the hurdles and the long jump,” Woody said. “The good thing too is that it’s only been her second week so I really feel like she’s developing at a good pace.”
Another Hawkeye that will be counted on to score points is Big Ten champion Elexis Guster. The junior has been the top sprinter all season and currently ranks second in the Big Ten in the 400 meters. Guster is not only expected to be a contender in the 400, but she will be counted on to the lead the 1,600-meter relay team too.
“I’m excited to see the women’s 400 and [1,600-meter relay] down at the Tyson Invitational, both events are always two premiere events in the country, Woody said.
At the Iowa State Classic the women will compete in a field of 10 nationally ranked programs: Georgia (2), Florida (4), Georgetown (8), Wisconsin (10), Kentucky (12), Stanford (13), Notre Dame (16), Baylor (17), LSU (21), and Oklahoma State (22).
Splitting the competition will give more opportunities for the other event groups a chance to shine. Especially for the distance team, as they’ve only competed in a few meets this season. At Iowa State, the team will take a full set of runners in order to evaluate where they stand.
Head coach Layne Anderson has one goal in mind, and that is to keep improving as the season moves forward.
“Our goal going into this weekend is to get [personal records] across the board if we can,” Anderson said. “The other thing we want to be doing is competing to win the section and seeing where we sit before the Big Ten Championships.”
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