Stephens wins MVC indoor title in pentathlon

CHICAGO — UNI track and field claimed its first title of the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Indoor Championships on Sunday at Gately Park and advanced multiple athletes into Monday's final heats.

Through six scored events, the Panther men sit in fourth in the team standings with 22 points, while the UNI women are in sixth with 20 points.

Sophomore Katy Stephens became UNI's first MVC pentathlon champion since Paige Knodle in 2016, finishing in the top-five in three out of the five events with a career-high 3,692 points to crack UNI's top-five all-time list. Stephens notched a first place finish in the shot put portion of the pentathlon with a throw of 12.83 meters, second place in the long jump (5.49m) and third place in the high jump (1.65m).

Through the first day of the men's heptathlon, Zach Butcher sits in second place with 3,080 points, while Drew Bartels is in fifth place (2,716 points) and Brody Lovell in eight place (2,649). In the field events, Alivia Silvestri finished in fifth in the women's pole vault (3.75m) with Sydnee Scott placing ninth after clearing 3.65 meters.

Fifteen Panthers will return to the track for the finals tomorrow in several events following preliminary heats on Sunday. In the men's mile, freshman Chase Lauman clocked a time of 4:17.13 to finish in sixth place, while Emma Hoins finished in seventh in the women's mile run in a career-best time of 4:54.36. Two Panthers will be competing in the 60-meter hurdles finals on Monday, including Jack Sumners, who ran a time of 8.07 finishing in fifth place. Sumners has finished in the top-three in the event at the MVC Indoor Championships each of the last three seasons, including winning the conference title in 2022 and finishing as runner-up last year. Paige Kisley will also advance to the finals of the women's 60-meter hurdles after recording a personal-best time of 8.67 seconds.

After running in the men's 400-meter prelims, Onal Mitchell and Isaac Vaske will return to compete in the finals. Mitchell finished in fourth place in a time of 48.52, as Isaac Vaske placed fifth in 48.61. On the women's side of the 400-meter prelims, Jill Bennett finished eighth in a time of 57.37 to advance.

Moving on to the finals in the 60-meter dash, Luke Meyers (6.76) and Tinashe Chigudu (6.82) finished third and fourth respectively in the prelims. Caroline Benfeldt-Sorensen will also move on to the finals in the women's 60-meter dash after running a new career-best time of 7.53, tying the fourth-fastest mark in program history.

Chigudu and Meyers will also advance to the finals of the men's 200-meter dash after Chigudu topped the field in a career-best time of 21.28 seconds, moving him up to fourth all-time in Panther history. Meyers clocked a time of 21.42 seconds to finish third in the prelims.

Taking home first place in the men's 800-meter prelims, Chase Knoche ran a time of 1:51.08 to advance, while Jayden Dickson will join his fellow distance teammate after running a time of 1:52.88 to finish in seventh. Sophia Jungling crossed the finish line in a time of 2:13.00 to also advance to the finals in the women's 800-meter run.

Brendan Safley came in second in the men's pole vault with a personal-best vault of 5.35-meters. In the men's distance medley, a team of Chase Lauman, Kaden Emanuel, Chase Knoche, and Tyler Colvin finished in second place in a time of 9:59.22. On the women's side, Schaffer, Kimbrough, Jungling, and Hoins took third place in a time of 11:52.05 to close out day one of the MVC Indoor Championships.

The final day of the MVC Indoor Championships will resume at 9:30 a.m. CT tomorrow. Live coverage of the meet will be available on ESPN+ beginning at 11:15 a.m. CT

MEN'S TEAM STANDINGS (Thru Day One)

1st - Indiana State (57)
2nd - Drake (42)
3rd - Illinois State (28.5)
4th - UNI (22)
5th - Southern Illinois (13)
6th - Belmont (11.5)
T7th - Bradley (9)
T7th - Valparaiso (9)
9th - Evansville (2)
10th - UIC (1)

WOMEN'S TEAM STANDINGS (Thru Day One)

1st - Indiana State (53)
2nd - Belmont (41)
3rd - Illinois State (39)
4th - Murray State (25)
5th - Drake (23)
6th - UNI (20)
7th - Bradley (19)
8th - Southern Illinois (8)
9th - Evansville (4)
T10th - Valparaiso (1)
T10th - Missouri State (1)

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