Photo from kifgradio.com
After a successful weekend in Eugene, Ore. for the NCAA West Regional, 12 members of Iowa’s track and field team will head to the final round of the NCAA Championships close to home in Des Moines, Iowa.
The finals will be held June 8-11.
Larry Wieczorek, Iowa’s head coach and the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year, commented about this weekend’s results by saying:
“Overall, we advanced a really good group of people to the NCAA Championships,” said head coach Larry Wieczorek. Justin Austin showed a lot of guts finishing in the top 12 of the 200, and Ethan Holmes had one of the best meets of a track athlete that I’ve seen in a long time. We did have some disappointments, but overall we feel good about the group were taking.”
Sophomore Ethan Holmes owned Eugene and has qualified for the finals in three different events: 110 hurdles, 400 hurdles and the 1,600-meter relay. His 13.80 110 hurdle time placed him 12th overall.
Holmes also advanced in the 1,600-meter relay with teammates Patrick Richards, Erik Sowinski and Steven Willey with a time of 3:07.58 and sixth place finish.
And in his final event, Holmes ran a 50.70 in the 400 hurdles.
Other key Hawkeye performances that will send athletes to the finals included Jeffery Herron’s high jumping performance. He cleared the bar at seven feet, one-quarter inch (2.14m) in the first round on Friday. It was a career best for him and the performance ranked fifth in school history.
Junior Troy Doris won the triple jump competition with a 53-3 ¾ (16.25m) jump.
Sophomore Justin Austin ran a 21.08 in the 200 meter quarterfinals to place ninth.
The following female tracksters will also head to Des Moines.
Finishing in the Top 12 for the 5,000 meter run, juniors Betsy Flood and Brooke Eilers ran personal bests this weekend. Flood finished fifth with a 16:04.46 time, a personal best by nearly eight seconds and with her 16:11.86 time, Eilers beat her 16:26.46 Big Ten Championship time.
The women’s 1,600-meter relay team placed 11th overall with seniors Bethany Praska and Tiffany Hendricks, true freshman Ashley Liverpool and junior Nicole Erickson, running the team across the finish line with a 3:37.27 time.
