Olympic Sports Roundup: 5/4

By erut17 on May 4, 2022 at 8:12 pm @erut17
go hawks go
@IowaXC_TF (Twitter)
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Apparently, Iowa sports hosts their own version of the ESPYs each year. I hadn't heard of it until this past weekend, but it's always fun to see athletes from different sports get together and celebrate each other.

The amazing year in Iowa sports made for some intense debate by the Hawkcademy for the coveted Golden Herky. Congrats to all of the winning athletes and teams.

Track and Field

  • The Iowa track and field team took part in an Iowa classic last week, competing at the Drake Relays and coming away with the event title. It was their first Relays win since 2018.
  • James Carter Jr. had a standout weekend, sweeping the horizontal jump events with a long jump title on Friday and a triple jump gold medal on Saturday. He's the first athlete to win both events at the Drake Relays in 16 years. 
  • Other big performances included the men's shuttle hurdle relay squad of Grant Conway, Josh Braverman, Kalil Johnson, and Gratt Reed, who ran a school-record 56.74 time to win gold, and the men's sprint medley relay team, consisting of Austin Kresley, Khullen Jefferson, Julien Gillum, and Alec Still, who also won their event. 
  • The women's 4x100 team finished 2nd, running the 3rd fastest time in school history. Hawkeyes LaSarah Hargrove, Erin Dowd, Peyton Wensel, and Claire Pitcher finished in 3:52.56. Both the Men's and women's 4x400 teams finished 2nd, as did the men's 4x100, and the women's sprint medley relay team. 
  • It was another strong all-around showing for the Hawkeyes, who continue to rack up accolades and wins. The group continues to be ranked highly in both specific events and as an overall group. They'll look to continue their momentum next week at the Wisconsin Twilight.

 

Baseball

  • Fresh off a big series win over Rutgers and mid-week beatdown of Western Illinois, the Hawkeye baseball team traveled to Nebraska to take on the Huskers in a three-game set. 
  • Adam Mazur started the series off with another spectacular outing. He pitched a two-hit complete-game shutout, stifling the Husker bats and continuing his string of dominant starts. Over his last three outings, Mazur has 0.72 ERA, allowing just 4 runs and striking out 28. None of those three starts have gone fewer than eight innings. The Iowa offense had a quiet day as well, but a 4th inning solo shot by Izaya Fullard was enough to earn the 1-0 win for the Hawkeyes. 
  • After a Saturday rainout, the Hawkeyes and Huskers faced off in a Sunday doubleheader. Game one was one to forget for the Hawks, who fell 12-1 in seven innings. Game two was a far more exciting contest. After trading runs in the first on the back of a Keaton Anthony home run, Iowa scored two in the 3rd inning on a Peyton Williams homer to take a 3-1 lead.  The Huskers battled back for two in the 5th inning and the game would remain tied at 3 through nine innings. It didn't take long in extras for Iowa to break through. Back-to-back singles and an intentional walk loaded the bases for the Hawkeyes and then Keaton Anthony came through with the sac fly to give the Hawks the lead. Izaya Fullard again came up clutch, driving in an insurance run with an RBI single and securing both the game and the series for the Hawkeyes.

 

 

  • The Hawks are continuing to look like a much more consistent team than in the early goings of the season. There will still be clunkers like game one of the doubleheader -- baseball gonna baseball -- but the Hawks look more and more like a well-rounded group that is performing to their potential. Add that to an incredible stretch on the mound from Mazur, a breakout campaign by Keaton Anthony, and some timely hitting by Fullard over the past few weeks and you've got a recipe for a really good baseball team. And don't just take my word for it:

 

  • And to think there was a time when this staff felt like the weak link for the team. Can't wait to see what Heller's boys do next.

(Addendum: While I was writing this Iowa laid an egg and lost to Illinois State last night, 3-2...It's not a backbreaker, but it's a definite bad loss and really limits their margin for error for the rest of the regular season. I'm not going to give up on my optimistic take though, partially because I think the talent is still there, and somewhat more importantly, because I can't bring myself to delete that much of my work...)

Rowing

  • Iowa hosted the Big Ten-Pac 12 Challenge last weekend and came away with five victories. 
  • The #2 Fours boat bested #15 Oregon State among others to claim the Hawkeyes' first win of the meet. The same group would also win in the afternoon session, this time over Minnesota among others. The #2 boat's strong performance earned them B1G Boat of the Week honors, a school-record 4th award for the team this year.
  • The #3 Fours boat won two events as well, and Iowa's #1 Novice Eights boat earned a race win as well. 

 

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