|
Men's Track
Panthers Head to NCAA Championships
June 7, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
For the Week of June 6 - 12 This Week in Panther Track and Field The University of Northern Iowa has qualified in six events for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in Sacramento, Calif. UNI will send Dirk Homewood (Cedar Falls, Iowa) in the 400 meter dash; Cody Eichmeier (Ackley, Iowa) in the long jump; Yuriy Litvinski (Sliven, Bulgaria) in the triple jump; and Jarno Kivioja (Porvoo, Finland) in the pole vault. The Panthers have also qualified both its men's 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams. The 4x100 team consists of Jamie Goodwin (McKeesport, Pa.), Eichmeier, Homewood and Patrick Hunter (Racine, Wis.), while the 4x400 team is comprised of Ryan Kedley (Lowden, Iowa), Eichmeier, Terrance Reid (Davenport, Iowa) and Homewood. Homewood, Eichmeier Competing in Three Events Each at NCAAs UNI senior Dirk Homewood (Cedar Falls, Iowa) and sophomore Cody Eichmeier (Ackley, Iowa) will have a busy four days at the NCAA championships. Each athlete will be competing in three events, as each has qualified in an individual specialty as well as being a member of both relay teams. Homewood set the school record in the 400 meter dash at the Midwest Regional, running 45.34, which is the seventh-fastest time in the field. Eichmeier qualified at-large for the NCAAs in the long jump with his school-record leap of 25-0 earlier this year. Both relay teams also set school records at the Midwest Regionals, with the 4x100 team running 39.72 and the 4x400 team clocking 3:06.01. UNI in Rare Company in the Relays The Panthers are one of only 10 schools to qualify for the national championships in both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Its 4x400 automatically qualified by finishing third at the Midwest Regionals, while its 4x100 received one of seven at-large bids to the meet. In fact, UNI is the only school to qualify in both that is not a member of a "power conference" -- the other nine to be represented in both relays are Arizona State, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Mississippi State, Oregon, Texas Tech, USC and Washington. Homewood Earns Academic All-District Honors University of Northern Iowa senior Dirk Homewood (Cedar Falls, Iowa) has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII Men's Track and Field/Cross Country team. This is the third straight year that Homewood has earned Academic All-District honors. A senior mathematics education major, he will participate in three events - the 400 meter dash, 4x100 meter relay and 4x400 meter relay -- at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week in Sacramento. The Academic All-District team is selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) in voting by the organizations' membership. Homewood's name will now be forwarded to the national ballot for consideration, with the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America team announced later this summer. Homewood was a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2003 and a second team selection in 2004. Bucknam Named Midwest Region Coach of the Year University of Northern Iowa head track and field coach and director of running programs Chris Bucknam was named the 2005 Mondo Midwest Region Coach of the Year, as announced by the United States Track and Field Coaches Association. Bucknam has now claimed that honor in five of the last six years. He is finishing his 22nd year at the helm of UNI's track and field programs, and during his tenure, he has guided the Panthers to 27 conference titles, including the last six Missouri Valley Conference indoor titles in a row, and the 2005 MVC outdoor crown as well. He was named MVC indoor and outdoor coach of the year, marking the 24th time he has earned conference coach of the year accolades. He has coached 41 All-Americans and two national champions. Homewood Wrapping Up Outstanding UNI Career Panthers senior Dirk Homewood (Cedar Falls, Iowa), who will go down as one of the greatest runners in UNI track and field history, will be a busy guy this week at the NCAA championships. He will run in the 400 meter individual race, as well as being the third leg of UNI's 4x100 relay team and the anchor leg of the school's 4x400 squad. Homewood, a three-time All-American and 11-time NCAA qualifier, holds UNI school records (indoors and outdoors) in both the 200 and 400 meters, and also is a member of numerous school-record holding relay teams. His time of 45.34 in the 400 meters at the 2005 Midwest Regionals is the seventh-fastest time in the NCAA this year, and it qualified him for the 2005 USA Track and Field Championships later this summer. UNI Finishes Eighth at Midwest Regionals Norman, Okla. - The University of Northern Iowa men's track and field team finished 8th at the NCAA Midwest Regionals May 27-28, 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. "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 ninth after clearing 17-1. 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 3?4 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 and Patrick Hunter (Racine, Wis.) ran 39.72, bettering the mark of 39.77 that it clocked in the preliminaries, and placed fifth overall. Hunter finished eighth in the open 100 meter dash with a time of 10.61.
|
 |
|||||
|
||||||
