University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
Hawkeye Invitational
Panthers Start Strong At Hawkeye Invite
1/14/2017 8:02:00 PM | Track and Field
FINAL RESULTS
IOWA CITY – The University of Northern Iowa track and field program kicked off the 2017 season with personal-bests and individual wins, highlighted by UNI's talented throwing crew who got started on Friday.
Sarah Pate opened her junior campaign with a huge personal-best in the weight throw, placing second overall. She finished the competition with a toss of 60-10.75, ranking her fifth all-time in school history and second in the Missouri Valley Conference this season.
The Panthers scored personal-bests across the board in the women's weight throw with Maddy O'Brien (51-5.50), Hope Koerperich (51-4.50) and freshman Allison Griffin (48-11.50) all finishing within the top-10. Griffin also stood out in the shot put competition for the UNI women, placing sixth overall with a PR of 45-1.00.
On the men's side, Brad Walski shined for the Panthers, winning the men's shot put with a personal-best mark of 56-3.00 and following it up with a third place finish in the weight throw (60-8.00). Both of his marks rank him second in the Valley this year. True freshman Kyler Yodts also got his feet wet in the collegiate track and field world this weekend, earning a PR in the shot put of 53-1.50 for third place overall.
UNI had a pair of freshman put in strong performances in the women's high jump, with Rose Gamamou placing second overall after a jump-off. She earned a mark of 5-5.00 with Maria Gonzalez placing third with a height of 5-3.00 to round out UNI's day in the field.
On the track, UNI swept both the men's and women's 800 meters. Lyndsie Schinkel and Bo Hjelle both won their first collegiate races with Schinkel running a personal-best time of 2:11.83 for the women and Hjelle turning in a PR time of 1:56.03 for the men.
Continuing on in the middle distance events, UNI came away victorious in the women's 600 meters with Lindsey Kite picking up the win. She recorded a personal-record time of 1:34.25 while Colynn Black placed third in the men's race with another PR of 1:20.34.
In the mile, freshman C.J. May took his talents off the cross country course and onto the track to place second overall with a time of 4:14.14 to rank him in the top-five in the Valley. For the women, Ashley Norem was UNI's highest finisher, coming in sixth with a strong time of 5:00.29.
Moving into the sprints, Maddie Irmen ran away with a victory in the 200 meter dash, winning the event with an indoor personal-best time of 25.57. Brandon Carnes finished second overall on the men's side, breaking the meet record with a time of 21.62.
The Panthers had two women qualify for the finals in the 60 meter dash with true freshman Jasmine Blue winning her heat in the preliminary race. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native ran a PR of 7.73 in the prelims, followed by a faster time of 7.71 in the finals for second place overall.
With the hurdles on the track, UNI also had a total of four student-athletes between the men's and women's programs qualify for the finals of the 60 meter hurdles. Connor Ham and Cole Philips both ran personal-bests in the finals, tying with a time of 8.12 to finish fifth and sixth, respectively.
UNI rounded out the meet with the Panther women placing second overall in the 4X400 meter relay. Blue, Irmen, Schinkel and Maddie Bell teamed up to win their heat and finish with a time of 3:52.31.
The Panthers will return to action on Jan. 20 when they head back to Iowa City to compete in the Larry Wieczorek Invitational.
Players Mentioned
