Freshman Paige Knodle will represent the University of Northern Iowa in the USA Track & Field Junior Championships being held in Bloomington, Ind., this weekend. Knodle will compete in the heptathlon on Saturday, June 16, and Sunday, June 17.

Knodle enters the meet with the second-highest heptathlon score among entrants, having scored 5,392 points at the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships. She finished the 2012 outdoor season ranked No. 25 in NCAA Division I and No. 3 all-time at UNI.

To be eligible to compete in the USATF Junior Championships, participants must be born on or after January 1, 1993.

The USA Junior Championships serve as a qualifier for this year's IAAF World Junior Championships. The top two finishers in the heptathlon will be part of the American team that will compete in Barcelona, Spain, from July 10-15.

The meet will be held at the Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Complex on the campus of Indiana University. The heptathlon gets underway at 2 p.m. (CT) on Saturday.