Iowa's Adam Hairston takes extra lap to Big Ten track meet

IOWA CITY - Perhaps no competitor is more excited for this weekend's Big Ten Track and Field Championships than Iowa senior Adam Hairston.

The Cedar Rapids Kennedy product opted to red-shirt last year so he could complete his Iowa career on the league's largest stage in front of his hometown fans this weekend. He also wants to win.

“We were bringing back a really strong team, and I felt that I could be a strong asset to that team,” Hairston said. “Also, because I was doing a double major, I still had school to finish out. We had a strong team, we had the resources to let me stay and the Big Ten meet is going to be at home so a lot of things worked itself out.”

Iowa was scheduled to host the league's top meet in 2009, but the floods of 2008 wiped out the ongoing makeover to Cretzmeyer Track. The 2009 league meet instead was shifted to Columbus, Ohio.

Hairston, 22, didn't mind the switch at the time because he had family living in Ohio who had never seen him run. He finished second that meet in the 800 meters - his signature event.

But sitting out a year has had minor consequences for Hairston. In 2009 he qualified for the NCAA semifinals in the 800 with a personal best 1:48.53. He has yet to duplicate that time this season, and he's trying to regain his form in the event.

“I think the training has been better than ever but translating that into racing ... I didn't have that sort of consistent competition indoors so I was rusty,” he said. “It took a couple of meets for me to catch my stride. It did take a while to put together a complete race, I think. Fortunately we do have a long season.”

Hairston ranks eighth among Big Ten competitors in the event and his best time this year is 1:49.53. Hairston's teammate, Erik Sowinski, ranks third. Sowinski and Hairston have posted Iowa's third- and fourth-best historical times, respectively, in the 800.

Iowa assistant coach Joey Woody has tried to help Hairston return to his status as a top Big Ten runner. Woody said Hairston is close to returning to form.

“I think he lost a little bit of that edge last year and this indoor season he started to get that edge back and really transitioned that into his first couple of races outside,” Woody said. “He's training as good as anybody right now.

“I think every week he's getting better and maturing and just getting the competitive edge sharpened every week. I think he's got the ability to go faster than 1:48; it's just the matter of doing it in the right race and the right situation.”

Hairston ran track and cross-country at Kennedy, where he excelled in long-distance events. As a senior, he claimed the 1,600 title at the Drake Relays. Later that spring he was cited for underage alcohol possession and missed the state meet.

Hairston said that memory continues to haunt him.

“It's something that's always in the back of my mind,” Hairston said. “I know what it feels like to not be able to run in one of the most important meets of your life at that point. You want to make the best decisions and responsible decisions. So I think I learned from that situation.”

Hairston and his family have history with Iowa. His father, John, played basketball for the Hawkeyes, and his uncle, Lew Montgomery played football. Despite those ties, Hairston nearly looked past Iowa when choosing colleges.

“Initially I was kind of hesitant to go to Iowa because being from Cedar Rapids; it's so close,” he said. “I definitely had that hesitancy. But then my parents kind of urged me to say, ‘Email the coach (Larry Wieczorek) and we'll go down to a meet and you can meet with him, talk to him.' Coach Wiz and I started talking and it sort of became a thing where I couldn't see myself going anywhere but Iowa.”

Hairston initially joined the Hawkeyes expecting to run long-distance events. But Woody, who worked with Hairston individually in high school before coaching at Iowa, saw potential in Hairston as an 800 runner and moved him there as a freshman.

“I knew his dad was a basketball player so he had to have some genetic pop,” Woody said. “So I knew he had a little bit of speed there. It's just a matter of honing it and transitioning that into the 800.

“I thought physically the 800 would be a better fit for him. My main objective his freshman year was to find him an event to give him some success and build him from there.”

This weekend could be Hairston's last chance to run in college. The preliminaries are Saturday - his graduation day - and the finals are Sunday. This is the chance he's waited for, and the opportunity to revert to his 2009 form.

“We're hoping he will,” Wieczorek said. “He has been an NCAA semifinalist. He's been a top-3 placer in the Big Ten throughout his career so he's had a very good career and he's hoping to go out in a blaze of glory.”