Mix of young, veteran Hawkeyes tie Iowa record for NCAA track qualifiers

IOWA CITY - The Iowa track and field team will run, throw and jump its way through the NCAA track and field championships with a mix of championship veterans and rookies.

Among those veterans is James Harrington, a senior whose track career has taken him from Cedar Falls, to Tuscaloosa, Ala., and back again. Harrington's career finally took off after transferring to Iowa from Alabama.

Now on his third consecutive trip to the NCAA championships, Harrington said this meet is no different from the others, save the addition of the 200-meter dash to his slate, which also includes the 400-meter relay.

The time for major adjustments and training is over, the senior said.

'It's just what's going on inside my head,” he said. 'Physically I'm ready to go. It's just making sure I'm mentally prepared.”

Harrington made the championships in the 200 by winning his heat at the West Regional meet. He holds the third fastest time in school history in the 200 with a 20.50, good for 12th at the regional but sixth tenths of a second back from winner Jamiel Trimble of Air Force, who crossed the line in 20.12. 'I'm going to work a lot on my finish in the open 200,” Harrington said. 'If I get that down I'll be good.”

The former Cedar Falls standout won that event, along with the 100 meters and 400 and 800-meter relays at the state track meet his senior year.

Director of Track and Field operations Joey Woody said the key for his athletes, including Harrington, will be focusing on the end goals.

'I keep telling them, let's make sure we focus on the finish line and don't get too focused on the next step in life,” he said. 'This is the time for you to really excel and not start thinking about the next step in life.”

For Harrington and other Hawkeye seniors, that includes pursuing professional careers, in running or other endeavors. Before the post graduate life starts for the graduates, however, the Hawkeyes must run the oval in Track Town, USA.

Better known as Eugene, Ore., the Hawkeyes head to the championships tying the school record of 14 qualifiers and in 13 events.

Six of the qualifiers are underclassmen.

Woody said having this mix will only benefit his team.

'It's a good balance to have because you've got the athletes that have been there and done that up to this point, and they're showing the way you know to the young athletes,” Woody said.

The effect of the record qualifiers also will help the program continue to build into a marquee track program, Harrington said.

Among the other Iowa qualifiers are junior hurdler Aaron Mallet, who placed fifth in the 110-meter hurdles in 2015, good for a first team All-America spot, and MonTayla Holder, a 2014 qualifier in the 400 meter hurdles. She missed qualifying in 2015, placing 13th at the regional, but is back in 2015 after placing fifth in the quarterfinal.

Holder has struggled with injury in both this postseason and last, but said she feels healthy enough to contend in Oregon. She said an Achilles injury bothered her at the Big Ten Championships and was advised by athletic trainers to take four weeks off.

At regionals, she said the injury bothered her, and she might not have made the NCAA championships if weather hadn't canceled the finals.

'To come back and be kind of healthy, especially after last year being kind of injured, and Big Tens being injured, I'm finally running well and decent again,” Holder said. 'By the time [the race] comes up I'll be running well.”