Nukuri Continues
to Shine as Hawkeyes Qualify for the NCAA Championships
Diane Nukuri continued her outstanding CC campaign with another fantastic
performance at the Midwest Regional. Passing the 3k mark in 9:59, Diane
blazed the final 3k in 9:38 to tie her PR set two weeks ago (19:37)
and win her 2nd consectuive Midwest Region title by 26 seconds over
Angela Bizzari of Illinois. Diane moved to the lead at the 2k mark and
never looked back as she cruised home in the fastest individual time
ever run in a Midwest Regional. The previous best of 20:21 was set 4
years ago on the same course. Diane has certainly positioned herself
well for another outstanding race at the NCAA meet next Monday.
Meghan Armstrong continued her march to All American honors with a 5th
place finish and a PR performance of 20:07. She finished 4 seconds from
Runner-up honors and left it just a little too late as she closed very
well over the final 400m. A move earlier and the Hawks might have finished
1-2. A similar race for Meghan in Terre Haute should put her in a position
to earn All American honors for the 3rd time in her career and first
time in CC.
Jolly Burke battled through stomach troubles, but did race her way to
All Region honors in 19th. She expressed that she never felt comfortable
relative to her previous races and will look to return to form as she
gives the team a 3rd legitimate All American candidate. It will take
a performance like she had at the Pre NCAA meet or the Big Ten meet,
but she feels better and is confident that the stomach troubles are
past her.
Jessica Schmidt continued her rock solid performance for the team as
the 4th Hawk in her second best time ever over 6k (21:28). She has vowed
to provide us with the performance we missed out on last year at the
NCAA meet from 4 and 5 as we slipped from 3rd overall after our 3rd
runner to 17th after our 4th and 5th. Fr. Lauren Hardesty had another
breakout day, bettering her time from the Big Ten meet by almost 20
sec (21:38) on a course and day that were more challenging than we faced
at Big Tens.
Krista Anderson and Fr. Amanda Hardesty closed out the race for the
Hawks in 21:48 (1 sec off her PR) and 22:24 as the team finished 3rd
overall for the 2nd consecutive year. All total the Hawks crowned the
individual champion and 3 All Region selections. Diane will more that
likely be recognized as the Midwest Region Runner of the Year this Sat
at the NCAA team banquet. If selected it will be add another great honor
to what has been one of the best CC seasons ever by a Hawkeye distance
runner.
Sunday night the team learned that it was selected as an At-Large entry
into the NCAA Championships next Monday. This marks our second consecutive
trip to the National Championships.
The Hawks will look to bring home 3 All American honors and an improved
team placing over the 2006 meet.
On Iowa! Go Hawks!
"The
future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."