Top-ten finishes at Musco Invitational continues track and field success

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LOGAN WINFORD

Maddie Bell (left) prepares to hand off the baton. The women’s 4-x-400 team finished second behind Iowa State by half a second

ZACH HUNTLEY, Sports Writer

Unable to settle for less, the UNI Track and Field team continued to make strides in both personal and conference standings this weekend at the outdoor Musco Invitational in Iowa City.

The Panthers performed exceptionally in a number of events, breaking records both on the track and in the field.

In the women’s 400-meter dash, both Maddie Beeler and Madisen Irmen broke personal records. Finishing second was Beeler at 54.51, ranking fourth in UNI’s record book and third was Irmen with 55.96.

Five Panthers earned top-10 finishes in the women’s 800-meter dash, three of which broke personal records.

Junior Brette Correy won the event with a time of 2:06.85, notching second in UNI’s records and first in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). Finishing in behind her was senior Amber Clock with 2:08.71 and sophomore Ashley Norem at 2:13.84.

On the men’s side, four Panthers earned top-five finishes in the 800. Finishing in first place was junior Luke Johnston with a time of 1:50.83. Behind him, Colynn Black took second with 1:51.19, Jordan Pingel finished third with 1:52.01 and taking fifth was Dylan Eigenberger with a final time of 1:53.74.

Finishing less than half a second behind Iowa State’s ‘A’ team, UNI’s women’s 4-x-400 team took second overall. The team, consisting of Maddie Beeler, Maddie Bell, Madisen Irmen and Jennifer Roberts, notched their season best time, finishing with 3:45.63.

For the second time in the invitational, five Panthers earned top-10 finishes, this time in the women’s 100-meter hurdle.

Paige Knodle rose UNI’s record time with a finish in 13.26; following her lead, Rachel Peth took third with a personal best time of 13.91.

Again splitting hairs against Iowa State, Roberts took second with a 1:00.68 finish in the women’s 400-meter hurdle. Roberts was a mere .14 seconds behind ISU, who finished in 1:00.54.

A number of UNI’s field athletes showed their strength this weekend, snatching four first-place finishes.

Junior Chaley Rath continued to improve her season’s record in the women’s high jump as she notched a height of 1.72 m./5-07.75ft.

In the women’s pole vault, Anna Loken took first with a height of 3.60m/11-09.75ft.

Again, in the women’s javelin throw, UNI secured a first place finish with the efforts of Knodle’s 44.56 m./146-02 ft. finish.

On the women’s side of the hammer throw, Sarah Pate won the event with a personal best throw of 57.89 m./189-11 ft., notching third all-time at UNI and fourth in the MVC. Right behind her was Chloe Schmidt with a 53.52 m./175-07 ft. toss for third.

For the men’s hammer throw, Justin Baker continues to stay on top, winning with a length of 64.36m/211-02 ft. Junior Brad Walski finished third and freshman Isaac Holtz finished right behind him, taking fourth.