By Jacob Miller
There is a new energy and excitement inside the Recreation Building for the upcoming season and it comes in the form, of a new track.
“You can see everybody with smiles on their faces, and they’re just pumped to be out here,” Director of Track and Field Joey Woody said. “I think we’re going to be seeing some big-time performances this weekend.”
The track was originally made by Beyon for the 2016 World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon. After the championship, it found a new home at Iowa. It is a fully raised 200-meter track with high banking in the curves.
“The new track is great. Coach Woody and Coach Dubs did a great job, and I’m really excited to have the best track in the U.S. and Iowa,” junior Heaven Chandler said. “It’s a lot different; you get to lean into it, and the speed coming down really does carry you around the track, so I like it a lot.”
All outdoor tracks have a flat surface, whereas some indoor tracks have banking. Strategies change with the banking, and this causes the athletes to make adjustments.
“Because it’s banked, it kind of slings you all away around, so the flat track, you kind of have to do everything on your own, you have to use all of your momentum,” sophomore sprinter Christian Brissett said. “On this, you kind of glide on it, and then you just roll off it and roll onto the bank again. It kind of helps with a little aid as far as speed goes.”
Brissett was a second team All-American last year in outdoor competition, and he wants to build on that for this season. Wednesday was the first day Brissett and many of his teammates had an opportunity to practice on the new track. This only gave them a couple of days to get a feel for it before today’s meet.
The Black and Gold Intrasquad meet is typically held right after Thanksgiving break. Because the track was not ready to go, the Hawkeyes got an extra week of practice in before the friendly Black versus Gold matchup.
While the track was being installed, the Hawkeyes had most of their practices inside on a turf field or outside, thanks to Mother Nature. Only recently has the track and field team been able to prepare on its new track. Even though it is a later start than usual, the expectations are still high for this season.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with where were at right now, especially not really having an indoor facility for a major part of this fall, but the weather’s been so terrific that we have not really missed a beat with our training.” Woody said. “We got big goals [for men and women]; we expect to be a consistent top-three team every single year. If you’re a top-three team, then you have a chance to win.”
The Hawkeyes will have their new track on display when they kick off the season during the Black and Gold Intrasquad meet at 6 p.m. today.
