University of Iowa track teams at regional meet before NCAA Championships

IOWA CITY - The Iowa men's and women's track and field teams are in Austin, Texas, Thursday to compete in a regional meet for the NCAA Championships.

The Hawkeyes have 15 men and 11 women in action this weekend, and sophomore hurdler Aaron Mallett is the Hawkeyes' highest-seeded athlete in an event.

Mallett won a Big Ten gold medal and became a school record holder with a time of 13.43 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles this month. He's seeded second this weekend.

'Ever since the indoor championships, he's been on fire,” said Iowa Director of Track and Field Joey Woody. 'Before he was struggling a little and probably thinking too much and not just focusing on himself. But once he did start focusing on just himself, he really took off and ever since then he's been really confident and thinks he's the best hurdler in the Big Ten and maybe even the best in the nation.”

Mallett, of St. Louis, was an indoor All-American in the 60-meter hurdles and anchors Iowa's 400-meter relay that is seeded eighth in the region.

'Zoning in on everything I can do and everything I can control has been a key for me,” Mallett said. 'Worrying only about my lane, my hurdles, and so on. I just have to focus on me. And if I do those things, I know I can compete with anybody. A lot of my success has come because I've been able to just focus on myself and everything I do.”

Senior Babatunde Amosu, the reigning and three-time Big Ten champion in the triple jump, is the second-highest seeded Hawkeye at No. 4. Iowa has seven athletes seeded in the top 11 individually in the Austin regional. The men's and women's 400-meter relays enter seeded eighth.

Iowa placed third May 15-17 in the Big Ten Championships.

'We are really excited to build off of our success at the Big Ten Championships,” Woody said. 'We had a lot of Big Ten champs and runners-up, and we want to continue to build off of that success. We have a lot of players that are coming into Thursday ranked high and want to move on to Eugene, and I think they're ready.”

The NCAA Championships final round runs June 12-15 in Eugene, Ore.

The top 12 individuals or relays in each event at two first-round regional sites move on to the finals.