UNI To Open Outdoor Season At SIU

Saturday, March 26

Carbondale, IL

9 a.m.

University of Northern Iowa

Bill Cornell Spring Classic

UNI To Open Outdoor Season At SIU

3/23/2016 10:20:00 AM | Track and Field

Meet Schedule
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The University of Northern Iowa track and field team will kick off the 2016 outdoor season at the Bill Cornell Spring Classic on Saturday, March 26, hosted by Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill.

The Panthers will take a full squad with them to Carbondale with the meet starting at 9 a.m. CT at the Lew Hartzog Track and Field Complex. UNI is coming off a successful indoor season where they notched four individual MVC titles, 13 all-conference finishers and two second-team All-Americans between the men's and women's programs.

Starting things off for the Panthers will be Brandon Carnes in the sprints. Two-time All-American holds 10 individual MVC titles, the most in school history and is the first athlete in MVC history to three-peat in the 60 and 200 meter dashes at the MVC Indoor Championships. He is currently second all-time at UNI in the outdoor 100 and 200 meters and will look to defend his MVC titles in both events this spring.

On the women's side, Maddie Beeler is coming off one of the best indoor seasons of her career after she earned All-Conference when she placed third overall in the 400 meters with an indoor PR of 55.85. She holds an outdoor personal-best of 55.68 and is set to improve on that time during the 2016 season.

Moving into the hurdles, UNI will have several Panthers chasing PRs and titles in Paige Knodle, Jon Rus and Daurice Fountain. Knodle won the indoor 60 meter hurdles in 2016, also breaking the school and MVC record with a time of 8.24. Rus, who placed second overall at last year's MVC Outdoor Championships is coming off a strong season where he ran a PR in the 60 hurdles of 8.00 to rank himself fifth all-time. Fountain, a standout wide receiver at UNI, came on strong this past indoor season, posting a career-best time of 7.99 to rank No. 4 all-time and earn him third at the MVC meet.

UNI's middle distance programs have continued to shine in the Missouri Valley, with Brette Correy, Amber Clock, Luke Johnston and Jordan Pingel coming off strong indoor campaigns. Correy, a two-time indoor 800 meter MVC title winner, is currently ranked No. 4 all-time at UNI in the outdoor 800 after qualifying for the NCAA West Regional last season. Clock, a senior who has earned all-conference in the 800 meters twice during the outdoor season, finished second overall at the MVC Indoor Championships and moved into second all-time at UNI with a time of 2:07.94.

On the men's side, Luke Johnston, a transfer from Butler Community College, took the lead in the men's middle-distance races, finishing fourth overall in his first MVC Indoor Championships with a time of 1:53.60. Jordan Pingel also competed in his first MVC finals, scoring team points at the Indoor Championships in the men's 800 meters with a time of 1:54.62.

Kelsey Kirchoff, Ben Fick and Trai Bunch will headline UNI's distance crews this spring. The three cross country standouts had strong indoor showings during the winter, with Kirchoff jumping onto UNI's all-time list in the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters, ranking fourth with a PR time of 9:50.29 along with a school record time of 16:52.61 in the 5K.

Off the track and in the field, UNI's throws crews have been a consistent source of points for the Panthers at the indoor and outdoor championships. Seniors Justin Baker and Jamie Lindstrom will lead the Panthers this season, after Baker made a run in the NCAA Championships last year. Baker currently holds the school record in the hammer throw (206-10.00) and is ranked in the top-five at UNI in the shot put (No. 2, 61-6.75). Lindstrom, who is a two-time NCAA West Regional Qualifier, holds a spot on the UNI all-time list in the shot put (No. 3, 50-6.25), hammer throw (No. 3, 189-6.00) and discus (160-1.00) and is coming off an indoor season where she set a new UNI record in the indoor weight throw (65-4.75).

Chaley Rath and Kassidy Sharp will both compete in the high jump for the Panther women this spring, with Rath holding the outdoor school record of 5-10.50. Also in the jumps, senior Tatiana Rice will compete in her final season as a Panther in the long and triple jump. Rice had one of her strongest indoor seasons in 2016 in the triple jump, moving into fourth all-time at UNI with a PR mark of 39-3.00.

On the men's side, Shawn Koch and Weston Riesselman will look to qualify for the NCAA West Regional in back-to-back years. Both Panthers have earned all-conference in the long and triple jumps for UNI, with Koch continuing his streak in the indoor triple jump this season.

Finally in the multis, UNI will return two MVC heptathlon champions in Knodle and Rachel Peth. Peth will look to defend her title from 2015 that ranked her No. 4 all-time at UNI (5,425 pts) while Knodle will take on her last outdoor season at UNI after earning fourth overall at the NCAA Championships in the heptathlon in 2014 as a first-team All-American.

Full results and a recap of the Bill Cornell Spring Classic will be available following the completion of the meet at www.UNIPanthers.com. For live updates during the meet, follow @UNITrackFieldXC on Twitter.