BY JAKE KRZECZOWSKI | OCTOBER 01, 2009 7:20 AM

It’s common operating procedure in wrestling for grapplers to hold wrestle-offs in hopes of moving up the ranks within the team.

Iowa men’s tennis coach Steve Houghton employs this same tactic throughout the fall portion of the Hawkeyes’ schedule.

The challenge matches are a way for the coach to figure out the composition of his team, making it easier to decide what spot each player will compete at in upcoming meets.

“We have played two challenges so far,” Houghton said. “I have been able to get an idea of what I have on the team but nothing will be for sure yet.”

After beating up on each other for the past few weeks, the Hawkeyes will finally turn their sights to the opposition by splitting for the weekend.

Four representatives — sophomores Will Vasos and Marc Bruche and seniors Nikita Zotov and Tommy McGeorge — will travel to the All-American Tournament in Tulsa, Okla.

“It’s going to be some of the overall best talent in the nation,” Houghton said. “If you’ve won one match or two, you’re doing well for yourself.”

Last year, Big Ten singles champion and then-senior Christian Bierich won two matches over nationally ranked opponents before getting knocked out in the third round.

Because of the lack of challenge matches to date, the coach, who has more intrasquad matchups planned for the coming weeks, has instead looked to the team’s other weekend tournament as a chance to get a feel for those on his roster.

Evantson, Ill., is the destination for the rest of the team. With the challenges taking on lesser importance, the tournament serves as a chance for some youngsters to prove themselves.

“This is just a chance to see where we’re at, see where everyone stands in the lineup,” sophomore Tom Mroziewicz said.

One Hawkeye who is headed to Northwestern, senior Reinoud Haal, missed a chance at participating in the All-American tournament because he is still conditioning himself after undergoing foot surgery in the summer.

He will likely compete in one of the top flights this weekend.

All of the Iowa players will play several matches in the tournament, a treat for the coaching staff, which embraces the chance to see the younger players compete — some for the first time.

For freshmen Garret Dunn and Connor Gilmore, this will be a chance to get a feel for the college game when they are tossed into their first test.

“I was telling my guys to be sure to take advantage of the matches this weekend,” Houghton said. “Some stuff will show up, good and bad — you can only tell once the balls start flying.”

BY JAKE KRZECZOWSKI | MARCH 24, 2009 7:30 AM

The Iowa women’s rowing team got its spring season off to a fast start last weekend, competing in the Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas.

The Hawkeyes’ varsity and novice squads both finished with strong performances winning 16 of their 24 races, with the first varsity 8 boat winning all four of its competitions.

“I felt really good about it,” Iowa head coach Mandi Kowal said. “Our varsity did well going undefeated over the weekend.”

While the first varsity 8 boat had a clean sweep, the rest of the Hawkeyes hit a few bumps dropping races against Central Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma.

The Hawkeyes were overmatched in some races, making the losses a little easier to swallow.

Iowa’s second varsity 4 boat lost to Oklahoma’s first varsity 4 in the first race of the weekend, and the Iowa second novice 4 boat lost to Wisconsin’s first novice team.

“Some of the losses make sense against who we were competing,” Kowal said.

The meet was the team’s first since Nov. 16, when the Hawkeyes participated at the Rivanna Romp in Charlottesville, Va.

“I thought we did really well and have made a lot of improvements from last year,” senior rower Laura Kanaris said. “I felt like we made a statement.”

After going to Austin on March 14 for a scrimmage with No. 14 Wisconsin, the Hawkeyes headed right back down to the Lone Star State the following week.

The constant racing, along with the chance to compete with some of the best competition in the country, are two things Kowal sees as advantages for her team as it delves further into its schedule.

“The most pleasing thing was having races back-to-back,” she said. “You can really improve drastically from race to race.”

Southern teams don’t have winter to deal with, which allows them to practice year-round, something Kowal would love to have but admits is not a huge advantage.

“In the beginning of the season, they are faster, but by the end of the season, it should be equal,” she said.

The Hawkeyes supplement not being able to get in the water with plenty of indoor practice, much of that spent on rowing machines. Of the seven schools in the Big Ten with women’s rowing teams, five of them are ranked nationally in the top 20.

With that kind of competition right in their backyard, the Hawkeyes looks forward to some good races.

“It is always beneficial for us to row against higher-ranked teams,” Kanaris said.

Iowa’s schedule from here does not get any easier. Next week, the Hawkeyes return home for competition against Minnesota and Creighton on Lake Macbride. The Golden Gophers are ranked 19th nationally.

“Minnesota is strong, and I expect it to compete well,” Kowal said.

After its lone home competition of the spring, the team will head to San Diego for the San Diego Crew Classic, where it will do battle with some of the best crews from across the country.

Kowal isn’t worried about the pedigrees of the other teams, though.

“Some teams rise to the occasion and have some of their best performances against better competition,” she said.

The Hawkeyes look to continue working toward becoming the team that rises to the occasion.

BY JAKE KRZECZOWSKI | OCTOBER 15, 2009 7:20 AM

In college sports, physical skills and talent aren’t enough.

And Iowa sophomore tennis player Chris Speer is a model specimen of hard work and determination.

As a youngster growing up in suburban Chicago, he first picked up a racket at the age of 5. That was all it took for him to fall in love with the sport.

His parents immediately enrolled him in the Care Academy, a tennis club specializing in grooming young talent in the Chicagoland area.

Attending the prestigious tennis academy became a daily routine for Speer, who began playing national tournaments as a 12-year-old. And before he could blow out 13th-birthday candles, the kid who picked up a tennis racket as a hobby eventually found himself nationally ranked in the top 10 for his age group.

Speer played in tournaments all over the country almost every weekend.

“I almost spent more time with my coaches than my parents,” he said. “They had to work, so I would go with my coaches to the tournaments.”

By the time he was in high school, the phenom started to hit some bumps in the road. Injuries set him back during his first two years of high school at Stevenson in Lincolnshire, Ill., and he experienced a scare in his junior year when he had trouble with a rotator cuff.

But he made it through all the setbacks, and in his senior year he helped deliver Stevenson, one of the more illustrious schools in Illinois, the state runner-up trophy en route to the best men’s tennis season the school had ever seen.

“Everyone came to the games,” Speer said. “Students, teachers — everyone.”

His final prep season wrapped up, it was time to take his game to the college level. Again he returned to the Care Academy, where his coach had set up a match for him to show his stuff for Iowa head coach Steve Houghton.

Houghton liked what he saw and offered Speer a spot on the team, and he committed in late June before his freshman year.

It didn’t take long for the young tennis star to figure out he was in a whole new game.

“I didn’t get to play, but I learned a lot, cheered our guys on,” he said. “I know that if I work hard enough I’ll get my chance to get in there and play.”

Playing in only one event last season, he poured himself into the training regimen assistant coach Steve Nash laid out for him.

He has been looking to challenge matches to work his way up the roster after being left home this past weekend.

It is easy to see his determination; each hit in practice looks as if he is putting all those years of training behind it — the long hours, hotel rooms, and plane rides all bubbling to the surface before the ball returns to the other side of the net.

Houghton, a former Hawkeye tennis player who entered into the lineup his first day on campus, looks at the way players get through rough spots as a sense of their character.

“How are you going to handle diversity?” the coach said. “These are kids who never sat on the bench in high school, so a lot of the success is based on their perseverance.”

Last weekend, Speer stayed in Iowa City while four other Iowa players traveled to the Purdue Invitational. But he has remained undeterred.

“I’m real motivated to get better and show people who I am,” Speer said.

BY JAKE KRZECZOWSKI | FEBRUARY 23, 2009 7:30 AM

On a night when the Iowa women’s track and field seniors were honored, two led the way in the Hawkeyes’ first-place finish at the Iowa Invitational on Feb. 20 against Augustana, Bradley, Coe, North Central, and Simpson.

Seniors Mandy Chandler and Renee White won their events. Chandler claimed victories in the weight throw with a collegiate-best toss of 54-041⁄2 and the shot put with a throw of 42-09. White won the 60-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 8.60.

“I’m just trying to get my technique down and my times down, so that when I go to the Big Tens, I’m in a position to score points for my team,” White said.

Joining in on the Senior Night festivities was former Hawkeye All-American Peaches Roach, who won both the long jump and 60-meter dash in convincing fashion.

Also basking in the spotlight were the Iowa underclassmen. Sophomore Amanda Hardesty won the mile with a time of 5:05.26, her best time this season.

Freshman Betsy Flood continued the youth trend by winning the 600 meters with a time of 1:36.22, followed by a cluster of five Hawkeyes who claimed the top-five spots in the event, all with collegiate bests.

With most of the more seasoned veterans sitting the meet out, the young corps of Iowa was able to have a chance to shine.

Senior Racheal Marchand, junior Rhonda-Kaye Trusty, and sophomores Karessa Farley and Bethany Praska all took a break from competition on Feb. 20 in order to concentrate on next weekend’s Big Ten championships.

“The bulk of our scorers sat out,” head coach Layne Anderson said. “For a lot of the kids, it was a chance to take another step forward in their career.”

With the final home meet out of the way, the Hawkeyes are now looking forward to the Big Ten championships, which will take place next weekend in Bloomington, Ind.

They will spend time building on the things they’ve done all season. The team will stay in what Anderson calls its “maintenance mode” all through this week in preparation for a strong showing in Bloomington.

“The most important thing is to stay in the routine we’ve been in all year,” he said. “The work is done. This week is all about fine-tuning.”

BY JAKE KRZECZOWSKI | OCTOBER 06, 2009 7:20 AM

Going into this weekend’s All-America Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., Iowa head tennis coach Steve Houghton was cautiously optimistic about the talent playing at the national event.

“If you win one or two matches, there it’s definitely an accomplishment,” Houghton said. “Any of the matches you play down there will be really tough.”

Sophomore Will Vasos and Marc Bruche and seniors Nikita Zotov and Tommy McGeorge were the four Iowa entrants in the tournament.

Zotov and Bruche each had byes in the first round of competition on Oct. 3, then they both lost in the second round.

Vasos put together an impressive first-round victory over Fernando Ristow of Pacific (6-0, 6-3).

The sophomore also ran into trouble after the first round, losing to Carl Ho of New Mexico (7-6, 6-3).

McGeorge finally broke through the second round for Iowa, albeit, in the pre-qualifying bracket, beating Jonathan Obrist of Wichita State after receiving his own first-round bye.

The Tucson, Ariz., native met Leo Rosenberg of Hawaii-Manoa on Sunday in the third round, taking him three sets before losing (3-6, 6-1, 10-7).

The four will compete in doubles play, which will begin today.

The rest of the team traveled to Northwestern for the Wildcat Invitational, where two Hawkeyes recorded their first collegiate victories.

The stars of the meet were also the least experienced players on the team — freshman Garret Dunn and sophomore Mitch Beckert, who excelled in their new environment.

“I was just getting used to college tennis,” Dunn said. “It was a lot different from junior tennis, as I found out this weekend.”

On Oct. 3, the 6-8 Dunn, who lost his first match to a familiar face — fellow Arizonian and friend Drake Kakar of Marquette — finally captured the elusive ‘W’ with a victory over Guilherme Marsiglia of Drake.

Houghton, a former Hawkeye tennis player himself, knows the feeling of getting that first win.

“Once you kind of get your first win on the board, it really relaxes you,” he said.

Dunn teamed up with sophomore Austen Kauss to defeat the Northwestern doubles pair of Chris Jackman and Sidarth Balaji on Sunday for his first doubles victory since departing the high-school ranks.

Beckert had a successful meet, taking down Michael Calderone of Western Michigan in the Flight C competition on Oct. 2 to record the first win of his college career, which he followed up with his first doubles victory as well. He paired up with sophomore Tom Mroziewicz, who played in the A flight — the top level of singles-play competition.

Also winning for the Hawkeyes over the weekend was senior Patrick Dwyer, who won in the Flight B singles on Oct. 2.

Houghton came into the weekend expecting to learn some things about his group, and that’s exactly what he got.

“It confirms some things that guys need to work on, but it pleases me the way that some of the guys responded to competitive nature,” he said. “This is just one bit of data in seeing where guys fit into the team.”

BY JAKE KRZECZOWSKI | OCTOBER 13, 2009 7:20 AM

While most of the Big Ten’s focus may have been on Iowa City this weekend, the Iowa men’s tennis team headed the other direction, taking four players to the Purdue Invitational in Lafayette, Ind.

With the top four players worn out from the long Intercollegiate Tennis Association regional meet in Tulsa, Okla., last week, the majority of the weekend’s lineup was much younger than usual.

The first day of action found the Hawkeyes in possession of four singles wins.

Sophomore Tom Mroziewicz took down Billy Heuer of Purdue in the initial round of the Flight A competition before dropping a match to Purdue’s Branko Kuzmanovic.

He also paired with junior Austen Kauss for doubles play, in which the two advanced to the semifinals, beating doubles teams from Eastern Illinois and Butler.

The meet brought yet another first for a young Iowa team — freshman Connor Gilmore recorded his first win of his collegiate career, defeating Ben Shafer of Butler before falling to Matt Manasse of Purdue in the second round of Flight B action.

Gilmore received the nod to attend the tournament over the weekend after an injury to fellow freshman Garret Dunn opened up a spot on the roster. The absence of the 6-8 Dunn, another first-timer last week for Iowa, left big shoes to fill after he impressively won his first singles and doubles matches last week as a Hawkeye at the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston, Ill.

“I’m now starting to understand just what college tennis is,” Gilmore said. “I got my feet wet a little bit, tried to do as best I could for myself as well as the team.”

The meet at Purdue was Gilmore’s first traveling. He credited the help and advice he got from teammates for the success in his first competition since high school.

“Everyone was helpful and got along all weekend,” he said. “It helped that I had those guys around to be there for me.”

He teamed with redshirt freshman Mitch Beckert in the doubles arena. The pair dropped its first matches on Oct. 10.

The invitational was the first chance the two have had to play together in a competitive atmosphere.

“We don’t really play a whole lot together,” Beckert said. “We started off pretty slow in our first couple matches, but I felt like we finished strong.”

Beckert, who also saw his first collegiate action last weekend, could relate to the nerves Gilmore felt before the match. To keep him calm, Beckert thought back to his own début last weekend and offered encouraging advice throughout the match.

On Sunday, Kauss played in the Flight A consolation semifinals for singles, where he fell to Marquette’s J.G. Crowley. Beckert also dropped his last singles match of the tournament after losing in the Flight B portion.

The Hawkeyes have this week off before returning to Tulsa, Okla., for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association regional tournament on Oct. 22-26.

“We’re glad to have this week off,” Gilmore said. “We’ve seen what we all can do. Now, we need to focus on what we can do to get better.”

BY JAKE KRZECZOWSKI | APRIL 23, 2009 7:29 AM

The feeling of being right at home is an odd one for women’s track and field head coach Layne Anderson.

Having rarely spent more than three or four years in any one place his whole life, the six years he has spent at Iowa seems like an eternity.

“This is actually the longest I’ve ever lived in one community without moving,” he said. “I feel like I settled in sometime during the first year.”

When Anderson was young, he frequently moved. With his dad in the Army, Anderson and his family spent time everywhere from Italy and Germany to Texas and Georgia.

After a few moves, it started to become routine.

“Growing up in a military atmosphere, you learn to adapt and adjust,” Anderson said.

When it came time to go to college, the head coach just saw it as another move, choosing to attend the Citadel, located in Charleston, S.C.

Having grown up in a military lifestyle, the discipline was not hard for Anderson to get used to.
The military academy was perfect for the self-proclaimed “Army brat,” not that he’s eager to go back.

“It’s a great place to go, but I wouldn’t do it again,” he said.

While at the Citadel, Anderson was a three-time Southern Conference individual champion and academic all-conference athlete. During his stay, he broke 10 school records and was named team MVP three years in a row. Anderson also was a member of a national champion distance medley relay.

During his sophomore year at the Citadel, he realized a military profession was not what he wanted, so he shifted his focus to coaching.

“I certainly had a productive career there,” Anderson said. “I got a great education and learned some good life skills.”

When it came time to graduate, he headed to Auburn for a Ph.D. program and soon began helping the coaching staff there.

It was at Auburn he met his wife, Alexis, who was also a graduate student there.

After bouncing back and forth between Auburn and Texas Tech, Anderson was offered the coaching job for the cross-country team at Iowa and an assistant coach position on the track and field team.
He chose to join the Hawkeye staff because it felt like the best situation for him.

“I felt Iowa gave me the best chance to do some big things,” he said. “All the pieces were in place, we just needed some hard work.”

After then-head coach James Grant lost a long battle with cancer and died in 2007, Anderson was there to step in and try to fill the hole Grant left in the program with little drop-off.

“I think he really watched how Coach Grant led us,” senior Racheal Marchand said. “After he passed away, Coach Anderson did a good job of picking up where Grant left off.”

He is a coach’s coach all the way, something Anderson attributes to his upbringing. His coaching staff appreciates this approach, crediting the team’s success to his philosophy of coaching.

“He lets coaches coach, he’s very supportive,” Iowa assistant coach Clive Roberts said. “He does the little things you may not realize.”

Finally in a place he can call home with Alexis and his 1-year-old son Sawyer, Anderson is happy.
“I’ve settled in and gotten comfortable,” Anderson said. “I can see myself here for the long haul.”

BY JAKE KRZECZOWSKI | APRIL 23, 2009 7:29 AM

The Iowa women’s track and field team this week will head to Des Moines for the 100th-annual Drake Relays, the state’s most prestigious track and field meet.

The first Drake Relays were run in 1910 to a crowd of 100 people. The 100th-anniversary edition expects to attract upwards of 8,000.

“Being from Iowa, this is a big meet for our team to show the state what we’re all about,” Iowa assistant coach Clive Roberts said.

Sophomore Karessa Farley will be favored in the 100-meter hurdles, an event she has gotten better at as the season has progressed.

“Karessa in the hurdles should be competitive with just about anybody,” Iowa head coach Layne Anderson said.

The focus of the meet, though, will be on the relays, something the Hawkeyes are confident about.
“I feel pretty good about the teams we’ve put together,” Roberts said. “We’ve got a good 4×100 team that, if they make it around the track, can make it to finals.”

Last week, the Hawkeyes got a warm-up meet of sorts, taking it easy in a dual meet against Northern Iowa.

The Hawkeyes will try to prove themselves in the state’s largest meet of the season.

“We would like to go and hear Iowa and the Hawkeyes and see some people win, represent our school well,” Anderson said.

The meet has other significance as well. In conjunction with the college meet is a high-school meet, which presents the coaches another opportunity.

“With there being a high-school meet as well, it helps with recruiting if our women do well,” Anderson said. “If they see Iowa winning some races, that may make them more excited to come here.”

For one Hawkeye in particular, the meet has a special feeling. Sophomore Hannah Roeder grew up in Des Moines and attended Roosevelt High School.

“I actually lived closer to the Drake track than I did to my own high school,” she said.

After years of sneaking onto the track to run some laps as a kid, Roeder is excited to show her hometown crowd what she can do.

“It’s kind of like a home meet for me, so I just want to get out and compete with the other girls,” she said.

If there was a time for the sophomore to perform, now is it. Over the past couple weeks, she has run well, earning a regional qualifying time in the steeplechase at the Tiger Track Classic earlier this month.

But Roeder isn’t the only one who Anderson expects to do well at the meet.

“Sometimes in relays, people start to do things that you’re looking for in individual performances because there’s not as much pressure,” he said.

BY DI SPORTS STAFF | APRIL 28, 2009 7:29 AM

NEW YORK JETS

The Jets got Shonn Greene.

No, that’s not the only reason New York had the best weekend of the NFL’s 32 teams, but it sure helps.

With their first two picks of USC quarterback Mark Sanchez, who went to New York with the fifth pick of the first round, and Greene, the Jets created themselves a solid core from which the future looks very bright.

Even though there was controversy surrounding whether Sanchez was ready for the NFL when he announced his decision to opt for the pros rather than another year at USC, he proved himself throughout 2008 and performed well enough in workouts to earn himself that fifth overall selection in the draft.

No matter what Pete Carroll has to say about it, ESPN’s Mel Kiper described the quarterback as a “franchise-maker,” not exactly the tag bestowed upon Kellen Clemens or Erik Ainge the past few years.

With a solid defense in place and a sound running game, there also won’t be pressure on Sanchez, who after playing one year as the starting quarterback at such a major program will be ready for New York.

Greene will also be a contributor immediately for the Jets. With Thomas Jones on his way out and Leon Washington not exactly an every-down back, there will be a spot for the Iowa star in the running back rotation.

The consensus “GPA” of the Jets’ picks in the 2009 draft, according to ESPN.com, was a solid 3.26. While that may not get them into the Honors Program at Iowa, it definitely is a reflection of one of the best performances by a front office over the weekend.

— by Jake Krzeczowski

BY JAKE KRZECZOWSKI | APRIL 29, 2009 7:30 AM

The Drake Relays means more than just a track meet to Hawkeyes Hannah Roeder and Betsy Flood.

When Roeder, a sophomore native of Des Moines was young, the Drake Relays was an annual holiday.

“When I was in elementary school, my mom would take me out of school on the Friday of the Relays,” Roeder said. “So I’ve been going since I was little.”

Roeder, who lived closer to the Drake track than to her high school, returned last weekend to her beloved meet for the first time since graduating in 2007.

She spent her freshman season in California, choosing to attend UCLA on scholarship. But after a year away, she decided to return home, allowing her the opportunity to compete at the Drake Relays again.

“It’s, definitely different when its in your hometown,” Roeder said. “It makes it a lot more exciting.”
Flood, a rising star in a strong Iowa freshman class, is also a native of Des Moines. She attended Dowling, where she helped her team earn second at the state tournament, held on Drake’s track.

The freshman has been running in the meet since she started high school, setting records along the way.

“It’s my favorite meet,” Flood said. “It’s in Des Moines, and everyone I know is there.”

Flood’s younger sister, Katie, also competed in the meet, winning the 3,000 meters for the third time.

Her sister and the rest of the stands had plenty to cheer about as the Hawkeyes performed well at the meet.

“I was excited to see her run and cheer for her,” she said. “But it was weird not to run in the same race.”

Iowa head coach Layne Anderson understands the excitement both Roeder and Flood had with running in front of a hometown crowd.

“For both of them it was a homecoming,” Anderson said. “Sometimes that can be a good thing, and sometimes they can get caught up in the emotions.”

Roeder, who admitted feeling nervous to go out in front of her friends and family, started off her run in the steeplechase with a rough fall over the first barrier. She managed to shake off the mistake, however, and get herself back into the pack, finishing fifth — two seconds away from her personal best.

“She did a good job getting up from the fall, regrouping, and working her way back into the race,” Anderson said.

Flood was the lead off on the 4×800 relay in which Iowa took sixth and had the same position in the 4×1600 meter relay which she helped her team take third in.

The two young Hawkeyes definitely gave elementary school kids cutting class last Friday something to look up to.

“I was thrilled for both of them, and I think it is a clear indication of where both are at right now,” Anderson said.