Hawkeye All Americans Lead Iowa to 10th Place Finish at 2007 NCAA Championships
Diane Nukuri continued her breakout season with a 4th place finish at the NCAA Championships on Monday afternoon at Terre Haute as she led the Hawkeyes to a 10th place finish at the NCAA Championships. Running with Jenny Barringer (Colorado) and Susan Kuijken (Florida State) throughout the race Nukuri finished off her Hawkeye CC career with one of the greatest individual performances in school history. To win the Big Ten title (Big Ten Runner of the Year), Midwest Region title (Midwest Region Runner of the Year) and then close her season with a 4th place finish at the national meet is as close to perfect as it gets for her. This season she broke 4 school records, 4 course records, the Big Ten record, the Midwest Region record, was named Big Ten Runner of the Year, Midwest Region Runner of the Year, and earned All Big Ten, All Midwest Region, and All American honors.
Roommate Meghan Armstrong raced to her best CC performance ever as a Hawkeye with a 16th place finish, also earning All American honors. Meghan really moved well through the pack over the final 2k to move from 27th to 16th place. So. Jolly Burke rebounded nicely from a touch of sickness at the Regional meet to improve from 211th in 2006 to 44th in 2007. She narrowly missed earning her first All American honor (7 seconds), but will be back to lead the Hawks next fall. Jolly also closed well late passing @ 16 runners over the final 2k.
Jessica Schmidt continued her solid running crossing as the 4th runner in 193rd place. Jessica improved from 202nd place one year ago and led Fr. Lauren Hardesty in her first NCAA appearance. The two raced together throughout with Jessica pulling away later in the race. Rounding out the places for the Hawks were Sr. Molly Esche in 230th and Fr. Amanda Hardesty in 249th.
All total the Hawkeyes were one of eight programs to have 2 runners earn All-American honors. Heading into the meet the team was ranked 20th and raced well enough to improve by 10 places, while beating Big Ten Champion Minnesota and traditional powers such as Arkansas, Princeton, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, Georgetown, N.C. State, and Providence. Last fall we entered the NCAA meet ranked 23rd and finished 17th, and this year we improved again by 10 places. The ladies have done a great job of racing well down the stretch of the last two seasons and see firsthand the benefit of being healthy, fit, and fresh at championship meets.
With the CC season coming to a close the team will take some time off to recharge the mind and body, before beginning preparing for the upcoming track seasons.
| Diane
Nukuri 2006 - 7th 2007 - 4th |
Meghan
Armstrong 2006 - 43rd 2007 - 16th |
Jolly
Burke 2006 - 211th 2006 - 44th |
| Jessica
Schmidt 2006 - 202nd 2007 - 193rd |
Lauren
Hardesty 2006 - N/A 2007 - 218th |
Molly
Esche 2006 - 247th 2007 - 230th |
| Amanda
Hardesty 2006 - N/A 2007 - 249th |
2007 marks the second consecutive year the team has competed at the NCAA meet and we are already looking ahead and taking steps to prepare for a return trip in 2008. Keep in mind that in 2003 the Iowa Hawkeyes finished 11th in the Big Ten Championships and this years Sr. class was the my recruiting class and the catalyst for this rise through the ranks. It could not have written a better ending for this group as we talked about this throughout the recruiting process with them and over the past 3+ years as we inched forward.
I wish everyone a great Turkey Day and thank so many who have supported our group throughout this amazing journey. Words cannot convey the excitement and pride we all felt yesterday when we saw the results board and first learned that the Hawkeyes finished 10th overall.
On Iowa! Go Hawks!
"In the long run, we only hit what we aim at."