AUSTIN, Texas – University of Iowa track and field wrapped up day two of the NCAA Championships on Thursday night with a third-place finish and bronze medal from Austin West in the decathlon.

The junior decathlete entered the day in fourth place with 4,266 points. He began with the 110-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 14.45. A lengthy weather delay pushed events back by nearly two hours, but West returned to set a career best in discus, finishing eighth with a 44.55-meter (146’ 2”) toss. Following the pole vault, West turned in a stellar javelin performance, firing a personal record 64.85-meter (212’ 9”) mark and finishing second. The throw jumped West up to fifth all-time in Iowa history and catapulted him to third overall with one event remaining. A 4:39.75 finish in the 1,500-meter race clinched bronze for West and earned the men’s team six points.

“I thought he had a good start to the day, his discus throws really got the ball rolling with all three throws going over his PR,” Iowa Director of Track and Field Joey Woody said of West. “He had a monster throw in the javelin to put himself in position to be top three. To get third in this meet where the competition breaks the collegiate record and you have the previous collegiate record holder, that’s pretty impressive. I am really proud of him for battling through the two-day competition, conditions, heat and delay. He earned it.”

Senior Amanda Howe capped her Hawkeye career with a season-best performance in the hammer throw. Howe’s mark of 63.79 meters (209’ 3”) was good for 12th overall, earning her second team All-America honors.

“Amanda has come a long way in the last two years,” Iowa throws and assistant coach Ray Robinson said. “She was the last one to get out of regionals and finished 12th here today. This was the first time in all of outdoor season where she looked like herself and wasn’t trying to force things. She has really stepped up and helped shepherd some of the younger athletes. That is going to be part of her legacy, too,” Robinson added. “She gave it her all every day at practice, in the weight room, supporting her teammates and in competition. I am really proud of her.”

Despite the weather delay, the running events started on schedule with juniors Paige Magee and Myreanna Bebe starring in the 100-meter hurdles. Competing in the same heat, Magee finished in 13.08, with Bebe close behind in 13.41. Magee joined Howe as a second team All-American, while Bebe earned honorable mention. The 400-meter hurdles saw two Hawkeyes earn honorable mention. Junior Mariel Bruxvoort ran a 57.84 in the semifinals, while Magee ended her junior campaign with a time of 59.00.

“Paige really competed well to get top three in her heat, but unfortunately just wasn’t enough to punch her ticket into the finals of the 100 hurdles,” Woody said. “I’m really proud of Paige and Mariel for getting to this meet in the 400 hurdles.”

The 4×400 relay quartet of junior Aliyanna Dorn, freshman Audrey Biermann, sophomore Chloe Larsen and Magee wrapped up the night with an honorable mention time of 3:37.08.

“This is the first time we’ve been to this meet with the 4×4 in a long time, so that’s a step in the right direction,” Woody said. “We just have to expect more and do more when we get here. That is the next step.”

Competition resumes Friday with the start of the heptathlon for Tionna Tobias at 2:45 p.m. (CT). The men’s finals begin on Friday with the 4×100 relay squad at 8:02 p.m. and James Carter Jr. in the triple jump at 8:10 p.m.

HAWKEYE RESULTS

Women’s Hammer
12. Amanda Howe – 63.79 meters (209’ 3”), SB, 2nd team All-American

Women’s 100-meter hurdles
13. Paige Magee – 13.08, 2nd team All-American
19. Myreanna Bebe – 13.41, honorable mention

Women’s 400-meter hurdles
19. Mariel Bruxvoort – 57.84, honorable mention
22. Paige Magee – 59.00, honorable mention

Women’s 4×400
21. Dorn, Biermann, Larsen, Magee – 3:37.08, honorable mention

Decathlon
3. West – 8,054 points, season best, All-American

9. 110-meter hurdles – 14.45 (917)
8. Discus – 44.55 meters (146’ 2”), PR, (758)
21. Pole Vault – 4.01 meters (13’ 1.75”) (620)
2. Javelin – 64.85 meters (212’ 9”), PR, (811)
7. 1,500-meters – 4:39.75 (682)

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa’s Big Ten Conference football opponents for 2024 and 2025 were announced Thursday by the Big Ten Conference. The two newest members of the Big Ten in 2024, UCLA and USC, both appear on the Hawkeyes’ schedules. Dates for league games have not been released.

In 2024, Iowa will host conference opponents Maryland, Nebraska, UCLA and Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes travel coast to coast, playing at Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State, Rutgers and USC. In nonconference play Iowa hosts Illinois State, Iowa State in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series and Troy. The Hawkeyes are one of three teams to face both UCLA and USC in 2024.

In 2025, Iowa’s five league home games include Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern and Penn State. The Hawkeyes travel to Indiana, Nebraska, Purdue and Wisconsin. Nonconference contests include Florida Atlantic and Massachusetts visiting Kinnick Stadium and the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series game at Iowa State.

The 2024 football season will debut the Flex Protect Plus model, which features a combination of protected opponents. In each of the two seasons the Hawkeyes maintain rivalry games with Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Iowa is the only Big Ten team to maintain contests with three protected rivals.

Beginning with the 2024 season, the annual Big Ten Championship Game will feature the top two teams in the overall standings at the end of the regular season.

USC holds a 7-3 advantage over Iowa, while UCLA has defeated the Hawkeyes in six of nine meetings. Iowa last met USC in the 2019 Holiday Bowl in San Diego, earning a 49-24 win. Iowa has not played at USC since 1976. The Hawkeyes last played UCLA in the 1986 Rose Bowl, a 45-28 Bruin win.

Fans can request football season tickets by visiting hawkeyesports.com/footballtickets. Season ticket holders can currently confirm their 2023 order. Fight for Iowa mobile passes and mini plan ticket packages are currently on sale. Group tickets and Hawkeye Village ticket sales begin July 5, while single game tickets go on sale for donors on July 17 and to the general public on July 20.

University of Iowa faculty/staff should contact the University of Iowa Athletics Ticket Office for season tickets. The UI Athletics Ticket Office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The office telephone number is 1-800-IA-HAWKS.

For gameday parking information, visit hawkeyesports.com/footballparking.

State Treasurer Roby Smith is having what appears to be a rare Michael Jordan rookie card appraised before including it in an auction. The trading card was in an unclaimed safety deposit box turned over to the state treasurer’s office years ago. Smith says the card is being sent to a California company that determines if sports memorabilia is legit and how much it might be worth.

“It might take a couple of months, then we’ll try to continue to get the owner or will probably put it up for auction,” Smith says. “We’ll see.” A company called Fleer released a set of N-B-A trading cards in 1986 that included a rookie card for future hall of famer Michael Jordan. The state treasurer says experts from the Professional Sports Authenticator company will consider the Jordan card’s condition and come up with a grade.

“If it’s a 10, it’s worth $150,000,” Smith says. “It could be fake, so we want to make sure it’s worth that.” Smith’s office hired a national firm that handles auctions for state and local governments to sell valuables from some of the safety deposit boxes that have been declared unclaimed property and turned over to the state. An online auction currently underway through next Wednesday initially included the Michael Jordan card, but Axios Des Moines was first to report it had been pulled for an appraisal. The proceeds from these auctions will be available just in case someone discovers their name or a relative’s listed on the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt website or comes forward to claim a long-abandoned deposit box.

“We have the right to be able to auction it off after a year, but some of this stuff is over 10 years so we’ve kept it an extra long period of time auction to make sure we can return it to the owners,” Smith says. “When we do sell it, the money still goes back to the owners of the box and there’s no time limit. They can wait 10 more years, 20 more years. They will still get the money.” The state currently has three THOUSAND unclaimed safety deposit boxes and is running out of secure storage. Smith was given a tour shortly after he took over as state treasurer in January and got to see the contents of one of the boxes.

“The one they opened up, it was just a random one. I think it had some bicentennial quarters in there. It had some old credit cards,” Smith says. “…It’s kind of like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get when you open it up, but there’s always a story behind it.”
Last year, someone paid over a million dollars for a rookie Michael Jordan trading card, but it had been signed by Jordan. The value of Jordan trading cards went up in 2020 after the release of a documentary about Jordan’s career and the Chicago Bulls’ last championship season.