Iowa hurdler Aaron Mallett focused on championship season

DES MOINES — Iowa's Aaron Mallett sees the times of his competitors sprout up from meets throughout the country, but he doesn't give them much thought.

The Hawkeyes junior learned a long time ago if he wanted to reach his goals, he needed to put blinders on and stay in the moment.

With the Big Ten Championships two weeks away, plus a stop at the Drake Relays this weekend, Mallett is gearing for the championship season.

His mind-set is singular.

'No matter who you are, even if you're one of the best, you're not guaranteed to make the national championship or even the regional,' Mallett said. 'Anything can happen so I just take it one meet at a time and one race at a time. Just take it all in at once. I'm not trying to jump the gun.'

Mallett will take the Blue Oval at Drake Stadium as the No. 4 110-meter hurdler in the country after a season-best 13.50 at the Musco Twilight. He holds the team's highest national ranking and is hoping this weekend at Drake is one of the final steps in helping him add the distinction of reigning Big Ten champion to his resume.

'He's a guy that I just continue to feed what he needs as far as his training goes,' said Joey Woody, Iowa's Director of Track and Field. 'He just takes it all in. Every time he steps on the track he expects to win. He's having a great season and is really building off of his indoor season where he finished third at the national meet. He expects to be a national champion.'

Northern Iowa senior Paige Knodle also is hoping to use the Drake Relays to build off a school-record performance last weekend. She ran 13.26 in the 100-meter hurdles — breaking her own UNI record — and ranks in the top-15 of the NCAA West Regional.

Knodle, who missed the Drake Relays last year due to back surgery, also is competing in the heptathlon — which began Wednesday. The Byron, Ill. native owns the 12th-best heptathlon score in the nation at 5,680.

'I think we're definitely ready to put up a big score like the score that we got when we were in Texas,' Knodle said. 'We weren't excited about the events (scores individually) by any means, and then we look at the overall score and it was a lot better than we expected so that's really exciting.'

Iowa State also saw sophomore jumper Jhoanmy Luque turn in a couple career-best performances last weekend in the long jump and triple jump at the LSU Alumni Gold. She won the long jump on her final attempt with a wind-aided 20-11 1/4 leap.

Although she is ranked in the top-5 of the Big 12 and top-seven in Division I in the triple jump (42-11 3/4), Luque will only compete in the long jump in Des Moines with the Big 12 Championships on the horizon to reduce wear and tear on her body.

'I've just got to keep working and practice my technique,' Luque said. 'I feel like at this point, everything is there so I just need to have fun and see how it goes.'

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