University of Northern Iowa Athletics
Celebrating UNI History: Brandon Carnes
2/6/2025 9:38:00 AM | Track and Field
2023 World Champion sprinter still holds multiple program and conference records after a historic college career at UNI.
Very few athletes who have laced up their spiked running shoes and clipped on their competition bib for the UNI track and field team have left a mark quite like Brandon Carnes. From his roots in western Florida to the track at UNI to the global stage, Carnes have left his mark as arguably one of the best to ever don the purple and gold.
A native of Breadenton, Florida, Carnes attended the University of Northern Iowa from 2013 to 2017 and became an immediate impact for the Panthers in the sprint events. As a freshman, he captured the Missouri Valley Conference's (MVC) indoor championships in the men's 60 and 200 meter dashes, as well as the outdoor 100 and 200 meters, the first of 16 total individual conference titles in his career.Â
Carnes would go on to sweep all four events in all four years as a Panthers, notably becoming the first and only athlete in MVC history to sweep the outdoor 100 and 200-meter dashes in four straight seasons. Additionally he broke the conference's outdoor records in both events during his senior season in 2017, clocking a 10.06 in the 100 meters and 20.25 in the 200.
Carnes' success at the conference level helped propel him to the NCAA Championships in each of his final two years at UNI. In 2016, he placed 13th in the indoor 60-meter dash and would return one year later in the event to place 11th, earning a pair of Second Team All-American honors. He would close his collegiate career with his third All-American nod, placing 13th in the 100-meter dash at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Carnes' historic career was not just marked by individual titles, but a handful of honors as well, being named the 2015 MVC Outdoor Championships' Co-Most Valuable, the MVC Indoor Championships' Most Outstanding Track Athlete twice (2016, 2017) and a three-time winner of the MVC Outdoor Championships' Most Outstanding Track Athlete Award (2015, 2016, 2017). He was also named the Men's Midwest Track Athlete of the Year in 2017 by the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
After graduating from UNI, Carnes spent time as a volunteer assistant coach for the Panthers while also competing professionally. In the years following his time with the Panthers, Carnes has gradually become a rising star in both national and international track and field competition.Â
After finishing fourth in the 100-meters at the 2023 U.S. Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Carnes was selected for the U.S. national team for 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. During the late summer of 2023, running the third leg of the men's 4x100-meter relay alongside Olympians Noah Lyles and Fred Kerley, he helped capture gold for Team USA as part of a world leading time that season.
Currently residing and continuing to train in Minneapolis, Carnes currently serves as a volunteer assistant coach for the track and field team at the University of Minnesota.
