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Men's Track
UNI Track and Field at Midwest Regionals
May 27, 2005 Norman, Okla. - The University of Northern Iowa track and field team had a solid first day Friday at the NCAA Midwest Track Regionals, hosted by the University of Oklahoma and held at John Jacobs track. The Panthers qualified three of four entries for tomorrow's running finals and earned team points in the long jump. "I was very pleased with our results today," said UNI head coach Chris Bucknam. "We were able to advance Patrick (Hunter) in the 100, our 4x100 relay, and Dirk (Homewood) in the 400. I was a little disappointed for Cody Eichmeier, who just missed out on automatically qualifying (for the NCAA national meet) in the long jump. But that's the way it goes sometimes. "We are set up for tomorrow about as well as we could be. It's going to be a great day of competition and we're ready." The Panthers got their day of competition off on the right foot, as UNI's 4x100 relay team set a school record and advanced to Saturday's final with a time of 39.77. That time also ties the best-ever by a Missouri Valley Conference school in any meet, previously set by Illinois State in 1996. The Panthers' foursome of Jamie Goodwin (McKeesport, Pa.), Cody Eichmeier (Ackley, Iowa), Dirk Homewood (Cedar Falls, Iowa) and Patrick Hunter (Racine, Wis.) bettered the previous UNI best that of 39.96 that it set just two weeks ago at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field championships.
The Panthers placed third in their heat behind Nebraska (39.52) and Texas (39.67), and qualified fifth overall for Saturday's finals, which will begin at 5:07 p.m. Other teams that advanced were Houston (39.74), UTEP (40.05), Oklahoma (40.07) and Sam Houston State (40.10). Homewood advanced to Saturday's final in the 400 meter dash, winning his heat in a time of 46.13. Homewood's time was the third-fastest overall of the 20 competitors. UNI freshman Terrence Reid (Davenport, Iowa) also competed in the 400, finishing fourth in his heat, but his time of 47.11 was not good enough to make the finals, which will be held at 5:52 p.m. Saturday. Hunter continued the success for UNI. In the 100 meter dash he ran 10.52 and advanced on time to tomorrow's final. Hunter, who also anchored UNI's 4x100 record-setting relay team, finished fifth in his heat but was one of six athletes to advance on time to the finals tomorrow at 6:07 p.m. Eichmeier finished sixth in the long jump, barely missing out on a top-five finish and an automatic bid to the NCAA nationals in Sacramento, Calif. June 8-11. His jump of 24-5 was ¾ of an inch out of the top five. However, he still could qualify with an at-large berth, using his season-best jump of 25-0 that he posted at the MVC Outdoor Championships May 14. The at-large selections will be announced next week. In addition to those who advanced to tomorrow's finals, other UNI athletes that will compete on Saturday are Morgen Edwards (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) in the shot put and discus; Andre Pojalnec (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Jarno Kivioja (Porvoo, Finland) and Raven Cepeda (Beloit, Wis.) in the pole vault; Derrick Benner (Paulina, Iowa) in the hammer; Yuriy Litvinski (Sliven, Bulgaria) in the triple jump; and UNI's 4x400 relay team of Reid, Eichmeier, Ryan Kedley (Lowden, Iowa) and Homewood. Field events on Saturday start at Noon, with running events commencing at 5:00 p.m. |
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