Cyclone track great Lisa Uhl is awesome

[Flattery]

Shameless plug here for the latest episode of The Moonlight Graham Show. I know there isn't a lot of track buzz on this board, but Lisa Uhl (former Koll) gives a lot of credit to former Coach Ihmels for her quantum leap to olympic level greatness while at ISU.. She's also a hardcore cyclone fan in her own right, which is pretty cool to hear from an athlete.

 

[Lamoni]

Is she the greatest ISU track athlete of all time?

 

[Clone83]

Is she the greatest ISU track athlete of all time?

Possibly, NCAAs. I know she was great right away as a freshman.

In 1984, however, Nawal El Moutakakel won Olympic gold the women's 400 meter hurdles. I believe she was the first Arab woman to win gold (for her native country of Morocco), and that she is still involved with the IOC today. She wasn't very big. I know that she was a phenom doing sit-ups on the old Universal machines in Beyer Hall.

That same year, 1984, Danny Harris won Olympic silver in the men's 400 meter hurdles -- second to all-time great Edwin Moses -- whose 10-year (or whatever) winning streak Harris had snapped in an event not too long before that.

 

[Flattery]

Clone83, thanks for sharing that anecdote about El Moutakakel. My dad tells stories about the baseball team doing workouts at State Gym. It's hard to believe now that those were the facilities being used by these athletes.

 

[Flattery]

Lamoni, if nothing else I think it's a shoe-in to say that Kiel and Lisa Uhl are the greatest track couple in Cyclone history. I would say that we should hire them if I didn't think they had higher career ambitions.

 

[Lamoni]

I had heard of Danny Harris' exploits but I was unaware of El Moutakakel. Uhl had an incredible NCAA career for sure and it would be awesome if she can qualify for the 2020 Games in the marathon as well.

 

[Clone83]

Clone83, thanks for sharing that anecdote about El Moutakakel. My dad tells stories about the baseball team doing workouts at State Gym. It's hard to believe now that those were the facilities being used by these athletes.

Yes. It is easy to imagine her visualizing the race. Or, as the picture of the great Tae Kwon Do coach Mr. Pak, in his training manual showed -- a cartoon style bubble from his head saying "Think champion."

 

[JarLar]

Possibly, NCAAs. I know she was great right away as a freshman.

In 1984, however, Nawal El Moutakakel won Olympic gold the women's 400 meter hurdles. I believe she was the first Arab woman to win gold (for her native country of Morocco), and that she is still involved with the IOC today. She wasn't very big. I know that she was a phenom doing sit-ups on the old Universal machines in Beyer Hall.

That same year, 1984, Danny Harris won Olympic silver in the men's 400 meter hurdles -- second to all-time great Edwin Moses -- whose 10-year (or whatever) winning streak Harris had snapped in an event not too long before that.

Not to say you're wrong because you're not necessarily wrong, she was actually the first Muslim woman born in Africa to win Gold. Just to make it more impressive, if that makes sense.

 

[Lamoni]

I thought it was interesting how Uhl laid out her reasoning for preferring track over XC as well. I would have imagined XC would be the more enjoyable race for distance runners but she preferred lots and lots of laps on a track.

 

[Clone83]

Great interview. Thanks for posting. People here should give it a listen.

I remember buying running shoes in Iowa City in the early 1990s, and talking to the sales clerk a lot about running, including how she was training for the marathon. It was pretty cool to see her, Jenny Spangler, come out of nowhere to win the 1996 Olympic trials, to have that personal connection. Lisa is a great Cyclone.

 

[VeloClone]

In 1984, however, Nawal El Moutakakel won Olympic gold the women's 400 meter hurdles. I believe she was the first Arab woman to win gold (for her native country of Morocco), and that she is still involved with the IOC today. She wasn't very big. I know that she was a phenom doing sit-ups on the old Universal machines in Beyer Hall.

She wasn't a one trick pony, either. While most successful in the 400 hurdles she competed at various professional levels of the world stage in the 100 hurdles, 100, 200 and 400 as well. That is some serious versatility.

 

[yez]

Shameless plug here for the latest episode of The Moonlight Graham Show. I know there isn't a lot of track buzz on this board, but Lisa Uhl (former Koll) gives a lot of credit to former Coach Ihmels for her quantum leap to olympic level greatness while at ISU.. She's also a hardcore cyclone fan in her own right, which is pretty cool to hear from an athlete.

that what a great interview - thanks for posting

 

[Knownothing]

I would say Danny Harris is the greatest athlete in Cyclone History. Played football and won a silver medal in the Olympics and would have won gold but Edwin Moses was unbeatable.

 

[Lamoni]

I would say Danny Harris is the greatest athlete in Cyclone History. Played football and won a silver medal in the Olympics and would have won gold but Edwin Moses was unbeatable.

I hope you meant Greatest TRACK Athlete in Cyclone History. Sanderson and Gable are pretty hard to argue with.

 

[Knownothing]

I hope you meant Greatest TRACK Athlete in Cyclone History. Sanderson and Gable are pretty hard to argue with.[/QUOTE

I am talking Athlete. Not most dominate at there sport. I mean he was a top Track and a very good football player. It's hard to argue against a multi sport athlete that is top notch at one sport and very very good at the other.

 

[Lamoni]

There is no doubt Harris is one of the greatest NCAA and USA 400 hurdlers of all time but I don't think his football career amounts to much. From what I can tell he played less than two seasons of football and then gave it up after tweaking his knee. Sanderson and Gable of arguably the top 2 greatest wrestlers of all time. They both also won gold medals as opposed to Harris' silver (I am aware of how great Edwin Moses was).

 

[drlove]

Newal and Danny are certainly in the discussion, but we have to include Yobes Ondieki. Yobes was World Champion and Kenyan record holder in the 5K and set the World Record in the 10K as he was the first to ever break 27 minutes. He also competed in the Olympics twice.

 

[VeloClone]

I am talking Athlete. Not most dominate at there sport. I mean he was a top Track and a very good football player. It's hard to argue against a multi sport athlete that is top notch at one sport and very very good at the other.

If that is the criteria I submit Gary Thompson. He was an All American in basketball and the starting shortstop on the College World Series baseball team.

Another great cyclone multisport athlete was Mike Busch who was an All American in Football and the 1990 Big 8 Athlete of the Year. He holds the Cyclone records for most career and season homeruns in baseball and was drafted in both the NFL and MLB drafts ultimately choosing to play baseball.