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Men's Track
UNI finishes 8th at Midwest Regionals
May 28, 2005 Norman, Okla. - The University of Northern Iowa men's track and field team finished 8th at the NCAA Midwest Regionals, held at John Jacobs track and hosted by the University of Oklahoma. UNI's 33 team points and eighth-place finish are both school bests at the regionals. In addition, three UNI individuals and one relay have automatically qualified for the NCAA National Championships June 8-11 in Sacramento, Calif. "What a great weekend," said head coach Chris Bucknam. "I look at this as a continuation of the MVC championships from two weeks ago, and hopefully we can continue this in two more weeks at the NCAA nationals. We're continuing to work hard and improve, which is great to see at this time of year. "It's the most points we've scored and highest we've finished at the regionals, which is a great feeling and a great result. We've still got a chance to get a few more national qualifiers, we'll find out about those next week. But we're not going to get greedy - it was a great effort by so many of our kids this weekend." The Panthers wrapped up the meet in style. In the final event of the day, the team's 4x400 relay team of Ryan Kedley (Lowden, Iowa), Brent Dahlstrom (Cedar Falls, Iowa), Terrence Reid (Davenport, Iowa) and Dirk Homewood (Cedar Falls, Iowa) finishing third in a UNI-school record time of 3:06.01. By finishing third, the team automatically qualifies for the nationals. Dahlstrom replaced regular team member Cody Eichmeier (Ackley, Iowa), who suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the day during the 4x100 relay.
Homewood became a double-qualifier for nationals, placing third in the open 400 meter dash, posting a new UNI record time of 45.34. By finishing in the top five, Homewood automatically qualifies for the NCAA's. In addition to Homewood, Jarno Kivioja (Porvoo, Finland) finished fourth in the pole vault with a personal-best jump of 17-5 to also automatically qualify for nationals. Also in the pole vault, Andre Poljanec (Ljubljana, Slovena) tied for seventh after clearing 17-1, and Raven Cepeda (Beloit, Wis.) tied for 21st after making 16-1 ¼. Yuriy Litvinski (Sliven, Bulgaria) came out of the first flight in the triple jump to be UNI's fourth automatic qualifier for nationals. The sophomore posted a season-best mark of 51-5 ¾ to place second overall in the event. In the men's 4x100 relay, UNI set a new school and Missouri Valley Conference record for the second consecutive day. The team of Jamie Goodwin (McKeesport, Pa.), Eichmeier, Homewood (Cedar Falls, Iowa) and Patrick Hunter (Racine, Wis.) ran 39.72, bettering the mark of 39.77 that it clocked in yesterday's preliminaries. UNI placed fifth overall, with the top three teams automatically advancing to the NCAA championships. The Panthers 4x100 relay could receive an at-large invitation to the nationals, with those selections announced next week. Hunter finished eighth in the open 100 meter dash with a time of 10.61. Junior thrower Morgen Edwards (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) competed in two events today. She finished eighth in the shot put, with a personal-best throw of 48'0 ½". She also threw 152'8" in the discus. Derrick Benner (Paulina, Iowa) finished 11th in the hammer, with his best throw being 193'2". |
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