University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
MVC Indoor Championships
UNI track and field secures second straight MVC indoor men’s team title
3/2/2026 5:42:00 PM | Track and Field
Morton, Randecker and Russell earn specialty awards in Indianapolis as Panther men defend conference team championship.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Three event titles on Monday and a clutch come-from-behind win in throwing competition helped seal the deal for the UNI track and field team on the final day of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Indoor Championships as the Panther men held off Illinois State to defend its team title from a year ago.
Northern Iowa extends its own record with its 16th MVC men's indoor team championship after first-place victories in the heptathlon and shot put, with the Panthers' 4x400-meter relay holding off the Redbirds in the final event of the meet to win the team title by only six points.
UNI also saw freshman Emma Randecker win the women's 400-meter dash on Monday, helping solidify a third-place team showing for the Panther women.
The Panthers were also recognized with four specialty awards following the meet, with Morton being named the MVC Men's Most Valuable Athlete and Most Outstanding Field Athlete of the meet, while Randecker was named the MVC Women's Freshman of the Year. Thrower David Russell meanwhile was honored as the MVC Men's Elite 18 Award winner, given to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average competing in the championships.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After winning the first four events of the heptathlon on Sunday, Morton finished the multi-event competition strong, leading the field in two of the final three events to earn his second MVC heptathlon title and first since 2023 with 5,570 points. Tye Hardin followed Morton in third with 5,169 points, while Colin Buch took ninth with a career-best 4,637 points.
In the men's shot put, both Carson Lienau and Russell trailed heading into the final round of action before both throwers tossed over 60 feet on their last tosses, with Lienau topping the field with a 60' 8 ½ throw and Russell taking second (60' 4). Lienau's win marks the eighth time a Panther has won the MVC men's indoor shot put and first since his teammate Spencer Kessel did so in 2024. Breanna Hackman (47' 11 ¼) and Brylie Lorence (45' 5 ¾) meanwhile finished in third and sixth respectively in the women's shot put.
Randecker narrowly won the women's 400 meters by two-hundredths of a second in 54.64 seconds, the second-fastest mark in team history for UNI's first win in the event at the conference championships since Maddie McCala in 2019. Jersey Jones followed Randecker in fifth (55.97) and Darci Wiseman (56.42) in seventh. Randecker also took third for Northern Iowa with a career-best time of 23.90 seconds in the women's 200 meters. Parker Kiewiet took third in the men's 400-meter dash (47.49), followed by Zach Fall in fourth (47.55) and Jordan Townsend in seventh (48.08).
In the sprint hurdles, Carter Accola ran a career-best mark of 8.11 seconds to finish fifth in the men's 60-meter hurdles with Ashton Hogrefe taking sixth (8.39). Olivia Kramer took eighth in the women's 60-meter hurdles (8.89), while also taking seventh in the 60-meter dash (7.79). Tinashe Chigudu also placed third for the Panthers in the men's 60 meters (6.75), with a fourth-place performance in the men's 200-meter dash with the third-fastest time in team history (21.14), while Kiewiet followed in sixth (21.56).
Derek Woods clocked a 1:51.26 to take fourth in the finals of the men's 800 meters, as Sarah Feddersen finished sixth in 2:14.74. In distance action, Amelia Hill finished in fifth in the women's 3,000-meter run (9:40.59), while Kaylee Woolery ran a career-best to finish eighth in the women's mile (4:55.82).
UNI's men's 4x400-meter relay team of Falls, Chigudu, Woods and Kiewiet would close the meet out strong with a second-place show in 3:11.19, holding off a surging Illinois State team in the final events of the meet to hold on for the men's team title.
FINAL MEN'S TEAM STANDINGS
- UNI (157.5)
- Illinois State (151.5)
- Indiana State (109)
- Drake (61)
- Southern Illinois (57)
- Bradley (50)
- UIC (35)
- Belmont (31)
- Valparaiso (7)
- Evansville (1)
FINAL WOMEN'S TEAM STANDINGS
- Indiana State (152)
- Illinois State (142.5)
- UNI (100)
- Bradley (84)
- Murray State (71.5)
- Southern Illinois (42)
- Drake (36)
- Belmont (17)
- UIC (15)
- Evansville (2)
- Valparaiso (0)
UNI's 2026 MVC INDOOR EVENT CHAMPIONS
- Carter Morton - Heptathlon, Men's Long Jump, Men's High Jump
- Carson Lienau - Men's Shot Put
- Joey Perry - Pentathlon
- Josie Moreland - Women's High Jump
- Emma Randecker - Women's 400m
UP NEXT
UNI will await the official announcement of qualifiers for the NCAA Indoor Championships, expected to be announced on Tuesday. The 2026 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held March 13-14 at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
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
