Butcher, Morton win gold on second day of MVC Outdoor Championships

Zack Butcher (2023 MVC Outdoor Championships)

Photo by: Illinois State Athletics

Butcher, Morton win gold on second day of MVC Outdoor Championships

5/13/2023 9:56:00 PM | Track and Field

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UNI men sit in second place ahead of final day of competition. Panther women in fourth place.

NORMAL, Ill. — UNI track and field surged up the team standings on Saturday as the Panthers grabbed a pair of individual field event titles during the second day of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Outdoor Championships at the Redbird Track and Field Complex.

Despite a late afternoon weather delay, the Panther men moved into second place in the team standings with 54.5 points, carrying an 11.5 point advantage over third place Southern Illinois into the final day of competition on Sunday. The UNI women sit in fourth place with 58 points, just seven points behind first place Illinois State.

Zack Butcher became the fifth different Panther to win the MVC decathlon and sixth individual in conference history to win the competition multiple times, reclaiming his MVC title from 2021 with a 6,688 point performance. Butcher finished the event with first place finishes in five events, including the discus and javelin throws on Saturday. Drew Bartels finished in third place in the decathlon (6,156 points), followed by Brody Lovell in fourth (6,021 points), Caden Ungs in seventh (5,332 points) and Colin Buch in eighth place (5,251 points).

Carter Morton clinched the men's long jump title with a leap of 7.25 meters, winning the event for a second consecutive year for UNI after Parker Kiewiet took home gold last season. The Panthers have now won the men's long jump in three of the last four MVC Outdoor Championships. Morton also placed fourth in the men's high jump competition, clearing 2.06 meters, with Drew Bartels taking eighth (6.96 meters).

Katie Fare continued her breakout season in the shot put circle on Saturday in a second place effort, highlighted by a new career-best throw of 17.06 meters. Fare's toss, which ranks second all-time in school history, makes her only the second Panther to break 17 meters in the women's shot put in UNI history. Makenna Wilson jumped to third on the program's all-time list with a career-best throw of 16.45 meters, while Sarah Byrd placed seventh (14.77 meters) with a new personal record. Sebastian Swistawk took home sixth place (16.22 meters) in the men's shot put.

The Panther women picked up key points in the team race in a series of events, including a second place tie in the high jump with Rylie Todd clearing 1.69 meters, and Layanna Green finishing in fifth (1.64 meters). Katy Stephens led the way for UNI in the heptathlon with a new career-high score of 4,812 points with a new career-best in the long jump of 5.42 meters and a third place result in the javelin throw. Alivia Silvestri also picked up a point for the Panthers in the pole vault, tying for seventh place after a 3.65-meter vault.

Emma Hoins continued her season-long improvement in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, setting a new career-best time of 10:26.91. Hoins, who ranks second in program history in the event, is now just 3.02 seconds from breaking Alex Wilson's 2015 school record.

In the 400-meter dash, Onal Mitchell and Auriona Kimbrough both set new career-best times to advance to Sunday's finals, with Mitchell placing second in 48 seconds flat and Kimbrough taking seventh in 56.40. Bill Mukhtar led a trio of Panther men into the 400-meter hurdle finals with a career-best time of 54.77 in fourth place, followed by Grant Rickertsen (56.44) in seventh and Lovell in eighth (57.29). Darci Wiseman qualified for the women's 400-meter hurdle finals with a sixth place finish (1:03.35).

In the highly contested sprints, Isaiah Trousil (10.25), Deonte Dean (10.50) and Tinashe Chigudu (10.52) all advanced to the men's 100-meter dash finals, as Jack Sumners moved on to Sunday's championship heat in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.25 and a fourth place finish. UNI also advanced three mid-distance runners to the finals in the men's 800 meters, with Chase Knoche taking third place in 1:51.31, followed by Jayden Dickson (1:51.45) in seventh and reigning indoor 800-meter champion Drake Hanson (1:51.49) in eighth.

UP NEXT
UNI wraps up competition at the MVC Outdoor Championships beginning at 10 a.m. CT on Sunday morning. Click HERE to see the full schedule for the final day of competition.

NOTABLE UNI PERFORMANCES

Heptathlon