UNI Track and Field's Darius King sets precedence in Wisconsin Tune-ups
2/18/2022 11:27:00 PM | Track and Field
MADISON, Wisconsin - Darius King moves up in the national ranking to sixth place with his win in the shot put at the Badger St. Valentine's Invitational. King threw a personal best throw of 20.30 meters winning the shot put by almost a full meter. King also advances his previous personal best by .15 of a meter, increasing his lead in the Missouri Valley rankings by a full 1.30 meters.
The Panthers made their final tune-ups at Wisconsin with the throws leading the way. Aside from King's success, teammates Mari Shavers, Katie Fare, and Marin Ehler showed out. Shavers earned a fifth place finish with a personal best throw of 18.83 meters in the weight throw, sitting her seventh in the Valley.
Freshman Katie Fare turns a huge personal best with a toss of 15.14 meters, setting her to sixth in the Valley and .30 meter change. Ehler also performed with a personal best in the women's shot put with a toss of 14.99 meters, making a .40 meter difference. Ehler heads into conference week ranked seventh, and aids the Panthers to a fifth, sixth, and seventh place ranking in the women's shot put.
Matteo Capello took first place in the men's pole vault with his jump of 5.25 meters after attempting a height of 5.46 meters. Cierra Laux finished fourth in the women's pole vault with a jump of 3.67 meters, setting a season best and a third place tie in the Missouri Valley rankings.
Jack Sumners took runner-up honors in the men's long jump with a jump of 7.21 meters. Blair Brooks took first place in the men's triple jump with a distance of 14.55 meters setting a personal best and setting him in second place in the Valley rankings.
Katie Nimrod took third place in the women's 800 meter run with a season best time of 2 minutes 18.56 seconds. Freshman Craig Becker took first place in the men's 800 meter run with a time of 1:54.11 moving him to ninth place in the Missouri Valley rankings. Drake Hanson took runner-up with a time of 1:55.50 and Karson Kleve took third place with a time of 1:57.66.
In the 200 meter dash Olivia Hubler took third place with a time of 26.06 seconds. Freshman Eden Barrett took fifth with a time of 26.34 seconds.
The Panthers return to close out the 2021-22 indoor season at the Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday February 27th and Monday February 28th.