Morton, UNI alumni set to compete at USATF Outdoor Championships

UNI track & field at 2025 USATF Outdoor Championships

July 31-Aug. 2, 2025
Hayward Field | Eugene, Ore.
WATCH (USATF.tv / NBC / Peacock)

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- The 2025 edition of the USATF Outdoor Championships is set to get underway on Thursday and throughout the weekend and five competitors with Panther ties will get their chance to shine on the national stage on the famous Hayward Field track in Eugene, Oregon.

Redshirt senior Carter Morton, a decorated multi-event athlete who captured the Missouri Valley Conference's (MVC) indoor heptathlon title this past March and earned First Team All-American honors with a sixth place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, will compete in the 18-man decathlon field on Thursday and Friday.

Morton, a Jefferson, Iowa native, qualified for the national championship meet in Oregon after notching a career-best score of 7,882 points while competing unattached this past outdoor season at the Drake Relays.

Additionally, a four of Panther alumni are set to run in Eugene, including current UNI head cross country and track assistant coach Alex Teubel, former Northern Iowa sprinter Brandon Carnes and Paralympians Erin Kerkhoff and Jessica Heims.

Teubel, a five-time All-MVC distance runner who set both cross country and track records during her UNI career, will run in the women's 1,500 meters on Thursday night against a field of 41 athletes with the 16th fastest qualifying time in the competition.Carnes, who captured 16 MVC titles during his Panther career and became the first athlete in conference history to sweep both the indoor 60 and 200-meter dashes, plus the outdoor 100 and 200 meters in four consecutive seasons, is set to run in the 48-man 100-meter dash competition. Notable competition for Carnes includes reigning Olympic champion Noah Lyles, as well as two-time Olympic medalist Fred Kerley. Carnes notably captured a gold medal for Team USA at the 2023 World Championships, running the third leg of the winning 4x100-meter relay in Budapest, Hungary.

Kerkhoff, a Coralville, Iowa native who graduated from UNI in 2023 and has dealt with optic nerve atrophy since berth, will run in a pair of events in Oregon, including the 200-meter dash on Thursday/Friday, as well as the 100 meters on Saturday. Last summer, Kerkhoff placed fifth in the T13 400 meters at the Paris Paralympics, along with a seventh place showing in the T13 100 meters. A multi-time para track and field medalist at the national and international level, she made her Paralympic Games debut in 2021 in Tokyo, finishing eighth in the T13 400-meter dash.

Heims, a Swisher, Iowa native and 2021 UNI graduate, will compete in the F64 women's discus throw on Saturday. Last summer, Heims finished sixth in the event at the Paralympic Games in Paris after taking eight in Tokyo in 2021 and fifth in Rio de Janerio in 2016, Born with amniotic band sydrome, Heims also placed seventh in the T44 100-meter dash at the Tokyo Paralympics, and also represented the United States on the international stage at the Para Athletics World Championships, the Para Pan American Games and the Para Athletics Grand Prix.

The full competition schedule for all five athletes can be found below. Live coverage of the meet can be found on USATF.tv, NBC and Peacock.

PANTHERS SCHEDULE (2025 USATF Outdoor Championships)

Carter Morton (Decathlon)

12:30 p.m. CT (July 31) - 100m
1:20 p.m. CT (July 31) - Long Jump
2:20 p.m. CT (July 31) - Shot Put
7:45 p.m. CT (July 31) - High Jump
9:52 p.m. CT (July 31) - 400m
1:30 p.m. CT (Aug. 1) - 110m Hurdles
2:25 p.m. CT (Aug. 1) - Discus
4:05 p.m. CT (Aug. 1) - Pole Vault
7:25 p.m. CT (Aug. 1) - Javelin
9:06 p.m. CT (Aug. 1) - 1,500m

Brandon Carnes (Men's 100m)

6:37 p.m. CT (July 31) - First Round
7:10 p.m. CT (Aug. 1) - Semifinals (Pending qualification)
9:17 p.m. CT (Aug. 1) - Final (Pending qualification)

Alex Teubel (Women's 1,500m)

8:32 p.m. CT (July 31) - First Round
4:03 p.m. CT (Aug. 2) - Final (Pending qualification)

Erin Kerkhoff (Women's 100m / 200m)

2:45 p.m. CT (July 31) - T13 200m - First Round
2:15 p.m. CT (Aug. 1) - T13 200m - Final
12:07 p.m. CT (Aug. 2) - T13 100m - First Round
7:25 p.m. CT (Aug. 2) - T13 100m - Final

Jessica Heims (Women's Discus)

11:30 a.m. CT (Aug. 2) - F64 Discus

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.

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