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L
ake Kwaza may run the first leg, but there is
more than one leading lady on the University
of Iowa women›s 400-meter relay.
e Hawkeyes sprint group boasts a deep
cast of characters, including All-Americans
Kwaza, Brittany Brown, Briana Guillory, Elexis
Guster, Alexis Hernandez, and MonTayla Holder.
With that kind of ensemble, it's no surprise the
team broke the school record in the opening
race of the outdoor season March 19 in Tempe,
Arizona. Its time of 44.04 bested the previous
mark by .47 seconds and ranks second in the
nation.
It marked the third time
any combination of those
six women broke a record
that had stood for two
decades, but according to
Kwaza, it won't likely be
the last.
"is team is a lot
different than past teams," said Kwaza, who has
run the lead leg on the three fastest relays in school
history. "We're coming into every race prepared.
We're ready. We should run fast. It's expected. It's a
different team atmosphere."
is team is different, but not by much. e
400-meter relay school record stood for 20 years
before Kwaza, Guster, Hernandez, and Brown
nipped it by .12 seconds to win a Drake Relays flag
in 2014.
e same quartet — minus Hernandez, but plus
Holder — bested the 20-year-old record in a
gold medal performance at the 2014 Big Ten
Championships.
is season, the changes in personnel are
minuscule compared to 2014. Only the freshman
Guillory, who ran the third leg last weekend, is
new to the record-breaking scene.
e biggest difference now comes in the form of
experience and improvement. e 2014 group
of freshmen and sophomores is now juniors and
seniors, and when you throw in a first-year talent
like Guillory, success becomes the norm.
at was true in the indoor season, when Holder,
Guillory, Hernandez, and Guster became the
program's first 1,600-meter relay to earn indoor
All-America honors. It held true in the outdoor
season's opening weekend, when Kwaza, Guster,
Guillory, and Hernandez broke the school record.
"We have a well-rounded group," said UI associate
head coach Clive Roberts. "ere are a lot of
interchangeable parts, which is something we've
always tried to accomplish.
"Coach (Joey) Woody
has allowed us to go out
and recruit very talented
sprinters and the right
athletes to be competitive
in the conference and
nationally, and then the
relationship is a work
in progress. As their
relationships improve,
the times go down. Four becoming one, and one
becoming a team. at allows us to be successful."
Roberts said the competition and depth is critical
if the team is going to maintain qualifying times
throughout the season, and still peak when the
NCAA Championships roll onto the schedule in
mid-June.
"It's such a long season, we can't be married to just
four athletes," Roberts said. "ere are so many
moving parts and things happening throughout
the season, so we need to get six to eight athletes
ready that feel comfortable with each other, so if
something were to happen, we could put someone
else in."
It can be a tricky puzzle fitting eight runners into
a four-person relay, but Roberts' philosophy has
been well received.
"We can look to any one person and say, 'you're on
the 4x1, you're ready,' and regardless of whom it
is, we're going to be running fast," said Kwaza. "It's
cool that way."
APRIL SCHEDULE
April 1-2 at Florida Relays (Gainesville, Fla.)
April 1-2 at Stanford Invitational (Palo Alto, Calif.)
April 8-9 at Jim Click Shootout (Tucson, Ariz.)
April 16 at Texas Invitational (Austin, Texas)
April 23 Musco Twilight XVII
April 28-30 at Drake Relays (Des Moines, Iowa)
