UNI SAAC names Student-Athletes of the Month

Karli Rucker | senior | Eldridge, Iowa - women's basketball

UNI point guard Karli Rucker led the Panthers in points for two key Missouri Valley Conference wins in the month of January. Rucker averaged 18.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1 assist in 64 minutes of play against Missouri State and Southern Illinois. Rucker particularly shined at the free throw line for the Panthers this week, shooting 83.3% from the charity stripe and missing just two baskets out of 12 attempts. With only three turnovers this week, Rucker climbed to second in the MVC in assist to turnover ratio at 1.93. She continues to move up in several places in the UNI record books. She started February fifth on the all-time scoring list with 1,648 points. She was seventh overall in 3-point FG's made, seventh in attempted 3-pointers, and sixth in 3FG% at .373. For field goals, Rucker is fourth all time at 591 and fifth for field goals attempted at 1,404. Rucker and Nicole Kroeger are currently first in the program for number of games played at 141 games. At 3.2 assists per game she's tied for 10th in assists average and third overall in assists with 458. She's fourth overall in minutes played at 3,738 and tied for third in games started at 111.

Morgan Nealey | Senior | Waukee, Iowa - track and field

Morgan Nealey finished first in the shot put at the Jack Jennett Invitational with a large personal best throw of 15.25 meters. She now sits fourth in UNI history and fourth in the conference. Nealey also finished fourth in the weight throw at the Jack Jennett Invitational with a personal best throw of 15.48 meters, which puts her 17th in the conference.

Carter Morton | freshman | Jefferson, Iowa - track and field

Carter Morton received his first MVC honors for his performance in the Jack Jennett Invitational in January. Morton won the men's heptathlon with a personal best score of 5,350 points and posted six personal bests in individual events. Morton's personal bests led him to three first-place finishes and six top-three finishes.

Morton set a new personal best in the high jump of 2.05 meters, putting him in third place in the conference overall and improving by .09 centimeters. Morton also set a personal best, winning the 60-meter hurdles in 8.38 seconds. He set a personal best in the pole vault with a jump of 3.85 meters where he finished second. Morton finished first in the 1,000-meter run with a personal best time of 2:53.58. Finished second in the long jump with a personal best jump of 7.37 meters and finished the 60-meter-dash with a personal best time of 7.20 seconds.

Morton took fifth in the heptathlon at the 2021 Missouri Valley Conference Championships and was second in his first heptathlon at the 2021 Jack Jennett Invitational.
In this performance, Morton has now moved his way to first place in the Missouri Valley Conference in the men's heptathlon by over 40 points. Morton also is now 11th in the NCAA in the heptathlon and only one of three freshmen in the top 15.

Austin Yant | junior | Waverly, Iowa - wrestling Austin Yant 2022

Austin Yant went undefeated in January at 165 pounds for the UNI wrestling team. He opened with a major decision against Trey Brisker of Air Force, winning 9-0. He knocked off his first top-20 opponent in his career with an 8-6 decision over No. 13 Luke Weber, the reigning Big 12 champion. He closed out January by taking down No. 4 Travis Wittlake of Oklahoma State. This was the fourth time Yant had wrestled the two-time All-American Wittlake. While the scoring gap narrowed each time, this was the first time he had beaten Wittlake. The win helped UNI beat OSU on the Cowboys' home turf for the first time in program history. Yant's final win came over Oklahoma's No. 29 Joe Grello. Yant kept Grello scoreless (3-0) to earn his sixth consecutive win. Yant ended January, 12-2 overall.

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