University of Northern Iowa Athletics
UNI Captures Records At MVC Championships
6/1/2015 10:40:00 AM | Women's Track and Field, Track and Field
The University of Northern Iowa track and field team wrapped up a solid first day of competition at the MVC Outdoor Championships, taking down two school records and countless personal-bests.
NORMAL, Ill. – The University of Northern Iowa track and field team wrapped up a solid first day of competition at the MVC Outdoor Championships, taking down two school records and countless personal-bests.
"Today was simply terrific," head coach Dan Steele said. "We set two school records and set personal-bests all over the place. I am so proud of these Panthers and couldn't be happier with day one."
Junior Rachel Peth finished the first day of the heptathlon in first place with a total of 3,351 points. The Waverly, Iowa native notched personal-bests in all four events that she competed in today to give her that first place ranking heading into the second day of competition.
Peth, Chaley Rath and Lauren Frederick kicked the day off in the 100 meter hurdles, all scoring PRs in the event. Peth finished second overall with a time of 13.96, followed by Rath coming away with a time of 14.52 and Frederick rounding out the Panther competitors with her career-best time of 15.43.
Next for the heptathletes was the high jump where Rath continued her solid season in the event, breaking the school record with a height of 5-10.50. The new school record was a huge PR for the sophomore and ties her for 15th in the NCAA West Region. Peth also grabbed her second career-best of the day, going for a mark of 5-7.00.
The personal-bests continued to roll into the shot put with all three athletes gaining top marks. Peth notched a second place finish with a toss of 38-6.00 while Frederick finished fifth overall with a mark of 31-9.50 for an outdoor PR.
Wrapping up the first four events was the 200 meter dash, with Peth leading the way with a career-best time of 25.19. Rath also scored a PR time of 25.77 to put her into fourth place with 3,190 points while Frederick came across the line with a time of 26.89 to finish with 2,660 first day points.
On the men's side, Derek Jacobus finished the first day in first place in the decathlon with a point total of 3,777. Jayvon Matthews rounded out the top-three in day one with 3,581 points while JC Abrahamson is sitting in seventh with 3,278 points.
Jacobus, Matthews and Abrahmson all scored personal-bests in the 100 meter dash with Jacobus winning the event with a time of 10.96. Matthews placed third overall with a time of 11.12 while Abrahamson grabbed a PR time of 11.73.
Moving into the field event portion of the decathlon, Jacobus notched another first place finish and another career-best mark in the long jump with his leap of 23-1.75. Matthews capitalized on the Panthers' momentum by finishing first overall in the shot put with a personal-best toss of 41-7.25. Abrahamson wrapped up the field events with a third place finish in the high jump, jumping an outdoor PR height of 6-2.00.
All three decathletes were able to post career-best times in the 400 meters to end the first day of competition. Jacobus won his third event of the day with a personal-best time of 48.79 with Matthews coming in at 51.02 and Abrahamson at 51.83.
UNI also had two point scorers in the hammer throw today, with Jamie Lindstrom and Justin Baker both grabbing top-five finishes in their respective events. Lindstrom finished fourth overall with a PR mark of 189-6.00 to stay third all-time at UNI.
Baker threw a strong distance of 206-10.00 to break the UNI record in the men's hammer throw and finish fifth overall. His new school record also puts him at No. 18 in the NCAA West Region.
In the preliminary races of the 1,500 meters, Alex Wilson and Bailey Wetherell both advanced to the finals. Wilson finished with a time of 4:34.67 in the women's race while Wetherell advanced to his first MVC finals with a new career-best time of 3:56.61 in the men's competition.
Defending 200 meter dash champion Brandon Carnes finished up the day for the Panthers on the track. The sophomore finished with a time of 20.96, giving him the fastest time in the preliminary race and qualifying him for the finals in the 200 dash.
Due to possible thunderstorms in the afternoon, tomorrow's schedule has been moved up. The multis competition will resume at 9:30 a.m. and the field events and track events will now begin two hours earlier.
Saturday Start Times
Decathlon - 9:30 a.m.
Heptathlon - 10:30 a.m.
Field Events - 1 p.m.
Track Events - 3 p.m.
Players Mentioned
