New indoor track already paying dividends for Iowa

IOWA CITY - To call the upgraded Iowa indoor track facility gorgeous is almost doing it a disservice.

A $2.6 million 200-meter banked track - bought from Benyon, a surfacing company, and originally installed at the 2016 NCAA indoor track and field championships in Eugene, Ore. - is the centerpiece of the renovations. It stands nearly 5 feet high at its curves and has room for the majority of field events in its large center.

Originally bought neon green, the running surface has been repainted gray, while the inside is now a bright yellow. It certainly has visual aesthetics, but the true advantages of the upgrade go even deeper.

'It totally elevates our program,” Joey Woody, Iowa's director of track and field, said. 'It allows us to reach out and attract better talent. Not just from around the country, but the world.”

Building a track program in the northern part of the U.S. is not easy. There's logistical and weather challenges, for starters. Schools from the north often have to travel long distances to be able to find quality meets to compete in, which can be a hard sell to prospective student-athletes. A good number of the elite track facilities are either in the south or the west and are able to draw the type of competition to match.

Having a nice indoor facility can help negate this. It was difficult for Iowa to bring in quality teams during the indoor portion of the season with the old track. After all, in order to be the best, it takes competing against strong teams on a regular basis. Now it can sell a world championship level track to both recruits and prospective schools looking to compete in a meet.

The Hawkeyes have already brought in Florida State this year and also have Notre Dame slated to come to Iowa City. According to Woody, other perennial track powerhouses have also shown interest.

Simply put, it's a game-changer for the Hawkeye track and field team.

'You want to give your coaches the tools to be successful and your athletes the opportunity to compete and train in season and the offseason,” Mark Hankins, assistant athletics director, said. 'We now have one of the greatest not only competition sites, but training sites.”

So what makes this type of track so special? Faster times, to begin with.

The turns are easier to get through than on flat surfaces, which makes the athletes' lives a little easier. After winning the Pentathlon event at this weekend's inaugural Larry Wieczorek Invitational, Northern Iowa's Lauren Frederick explained it simply.

'When the curve is so tight, you need to be able to lean and the bank helps you get that lean, which helps you get around the curve a lot faster,” Frederick said. 'On a flat track, you don't have something assisting you with that lean.”

There are some downsides to having a banked track, however. Hurdle and sprint events have to be done in the middle of the center field, which can lead to some issues with them being able to slow down, but they are minor things.

l Comments: jordan.hansen@thegazette.com