University of Northern Iowa
Wartburg Outdoor Select
Multiple career marks set for Panther track and field at Wartburg Outdoor Select
4/5/2025 5:32:00 PM | Track and Field
WAVERLY, Iowa --- The bulk of the UNI track and field team opened its 2025 outdoor season on Friday and Saturday just up the road at the Wartburg Outdoor Select at Walston-Hoover Stadium with the Panthers picking up 11 titles.
In addition to multiple event victories, Panther athletes also set nine new career-best marks, helping set the tone early in the outdoor competition season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Justice Miller, the reigning Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) javelin champion opened his season on Friday with a first-place finish with a 63.50-meter toss, the fourth-best throw in program history, as Brendan Safley won the men's pole vault after clearing 5.30 meters, setting an early top-20 in the nation mark. Carter Pheifer followed Safley in third (4.55m).
Annalise Zeinemann captured the women's pole vaulting title with a 3.50-meter vault with Alivia Silvestri (3.50m) and Hannah Wallace (3.20m) following in third and fourth respectively. In the women's hammer throw, Katie Fare set a new career-best with a 55.33-meter toss to take third place, while Nathan Wilde led the UNI men's in the hammer throw with a 59.16-meter toss to take second. Justin Olson (56.59m) and Spencer Kessel (55.85) both set new career-best marks to take fourth and sixth.
Opening up Saturday's schedule, Northern Iowa swept both the multi-event competitions with Colin Buch winning the decathlon with a career-high 6,202 points, including event wins in the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault and mile run. Ethan Peters followed in second with a career-best 5,768 points, with Brody Lovell (5,690 points) taking third and Zack Butcher (4,935 points) in fourth. Joey Perry dominated in the heptathlon, winning the 200 meters to finish with a career-high 4,873 points. Katy Hand took second with a career-best 4,410 points, while Makayla Crannell finished in sixth (3,631 points) in her first career heptathlon.
Competing against a crowded field of 81 athletes, Emma Hoins topped the field in the women's 1,500-meter run in 4:35.61, with Amelia Hill, competing unattached, following in second (4:37.48). Liza Schaffer (4:42.66) took seventh in the women's mile, with Kaylin Lacher (4:44.93) taking tenth. Ty Getz led the Panthers in the men's 1,500 meters with a seventh place finish (4:05.82), while also earning a second place finish in the men's 800 meters (1:57.27).
In the 400-meter dash, Anna Van Kooten set a new career-best time of 59.44 seconds to take third place, as Jaden Arnold ran the event in 51.20 seconds for the men to place 11th. Kyle Trunnell competed for the Panthers in the 110-meter hurdles and took sixth in 15.03 seconds, while Carlie Jo Fusco (14.81), Darci Wiseman (15.02) and Paige Paup (15.95) all ran the 100-meter hurdles, each finishing in the top ten. Fusco returned and won the women's 400-meter hurdles in a career-best time of 1:02.63. Eden Moore (1:03.29), Wiseman (1:03.59) and Anna Winterrowd (1:06.22) followed behind with top-eight finishes.
Giada Grimes (12.31), Maya Williams (12.55) and Aleksys Gannon (12.69) placed fourth, seventh and eight respectively in the women's 100-meter dash, with Titus Jackson finishing 12th in the men's 100 meters (10.99). Both Grimes and Jackson bounced back and dominated the field in the 200-meter dashes with first place finishes, with Grimes clocking a 24.83 and Jackson a 22.08. Jersey Jones (25.46), Josey Dunbar (25.50), Williams (25.51) and Gannon (25.66) rounded out the top-six for the women's 200 meters, while Carter Meyers played third (22.58) and Luke Sayonkon taking sixth (22.88).
Back in the field competition, Rylie Todd and Josie Moreland both tied for first in the women's high jump after both cleared 1.72 meters, as Kaiden Quandahl finished fourth in the men's long jump (6.62m). David Russell rounded out the field competition for the Panthers with a fourth-place effort in the men's discus (51.74m) with Sebastian Swistak taking fourth (50.15m) and Carson Lienau in fifth (49.09m).
UP NEXT
UNI returns to action next Friday, April 11 at Drake University's Jim Duncan Invitational. Competition is scheduled to begin with field events at 12:30 p.m. CT and running events at 2 p.m. CT at Drake Stadium in Des Moines.
UNI track and field action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (UNI Track and Field), X (@UNITrackFieldXC) and on Instagram (@uni_tf_xc). Schedules and rosters, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
Players Mentioned
