Hawkeyes Shine in the Rain at the 2006 Drake Relays
In the final meet before the Big Ten Championships the Iowa Women's team enjoyed a very successful meet at the 2007 Drake Relays. For those not familar the Drake Relays is one of the largest meets in the U.S., drawing 18,000 fans/day as H.S., College, and Professional athletes thrill the native Iowans with their performances. Despite beautiful weather all week the Midwest and the Drake competitors spent the weekend battling the rain and wind in the newly renovated Drake Stadium. Drake spent @ 13 million dollars to renovate the historic stadium and the first meet on the new track provided many thrills. Led by two individual Drake Relays titles the Hawkeyes continued an impressive run this track season. Jr. Tiffany Johnson got the championship parade underway with her victory in the 100m hurdles. Despite the conditions she just missed her PR with a clocking of 13.58 (.05 off). Not long after So. sprint star Kineke Alexander won the Invitational Section of the 400m in a time of 52.05. On a perfect day of weather this would easily have been a 51 low effort. So. Meghan Armstrong competed in her first 1500m this outdoor season, and the indoor All-American in the mile bettered her PR from last spring with a time of 4:26.01. This qualifies her for the NCAA Regional and she will look to go in the low 4:20's or under by the end of the season. Jr. Shannon Stanley enjoyed a breakout day at 1500m as she lowered her PR from 4:32 to 4:29.34 (#9 all-time), while Nikki Chapple dropped her seasonal best to 4:32.13. In the Distance Carnival on Fri evening, Fr. Krista Anderson posted the #9 time all-time with her 16:59 over the 5K distance, while So. Racheal Marchand lowered her PR to 17:10 and has now improved by over 1 minute from last year. High Jump All-American Peaches Roach continued her consistent string of jumps this spring with a leap of 5-11.75 in the Invitational Section.
Last Sunday the Women's team held its annual Track & Field/CC banquet. Jenny Spangler, a 1986 graduate of the University of Iowa and 1996 Olympian in the marathon for the United States served as the guest speaker. She shared many great stories from her days as a Hawk and inspired the team with her experiences in running. It was certainly great to have so many parents attend. Check out www.hawkeyeharriers.com for pictures from the banquet. The website should be updated soon with all sorts of photos and news from the spring. Meghan Armstrong (XC) and Kineke Alexander (Track & Field) took home MVP honors, while Aditya Jones and Becca Franklin earned Most Committed and Most Improved.
With the Championship portion of our schedule still ahead we look to continue the great spring season. Numerous school records have been established, all-time top 10 performances have been added to the record books and NCAA marks have been earned to date. We hope to improve upon the 3 All-American awards and 20th place finish from the Indoor season.
I certainly hope all is well with your spring or ongoing track season and look forward to emails with updates on all the great news.
On Iowa! Go Hawks!