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Panthers Head To Musco Twilight
May 2, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
THIS WEEK IN PANTHER TRACK & FIELD
Musco Twilight Invitational Francis X. Cretzmeyer Track Field Events: 3 p.m., Track Events: 5 p.m. TV: Big Ten Network (tape-delay) With just two weeks remaining until the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships, the OUT OF THE BLOCKS • The Panthers enter this weekend's meet coming off a strong performance at the Drake Relays that included a pair of championships. UNI claimed the men's 4x800-meter relay title for the second-consecutive year with a strong finish by junior Tyler Mulder on the anchor leg, and the Panthers enjoyed a 1-2 finish in the men's high jump with sophomore Ehi Oamen taking the title over teammate and defending champion Julian Morris. • UNI junior Mat Clark was named State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Field Athlete of the Week on Wednesday following his runner-up performance in the decathlon at the Drake Relays. • Senior Rachel Jansen, who has qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships in three events, bettered her qualifying mark in the hammer throw with a school-record toss of 201 feet, 2 inches at the Drake Relays. The effort surpassed the previous school record of 199-7 Jansen set in 2007. • Another senior, Traci Hawley, continued her outstanding senior season by shattering the Panthers' school record in the women's 5,000 meters on her way to a fifth-place finish at the Drake Relays. Hawley, reigning MVC champion in the indoor 3,000 meters, clocked in at 16:54.30 to cut nearly 12 1/2 seconds off the previous school mark and just over 13 seconds of her prior personal-best time. • The men's high jump competition at the Drake Relays turned into a showdown between teammates Oamen and Morris, who finished 1-2 in a meet for the fifth time since Morris transferred to UNI from • In addition to the NCAA Outdoor Championships automatic qualifying marks posted by Clark and Cepeda in the decathlon, the Panthers also added NCAA regional qualifying marks in the men's javelin by Marcin Kazubowski and in the women's 4x400 relay by the team of Lauren Carruthers, Dani Stipe, Kara Yahn and Amy Bagge. UNI has now posted a total of 13 Midwest Regional qualifying marks, while four Panthers also have secured at least a provisional spot in the NCAA Outdoor Championships. PICKING UP THE PACE The Panthers put a more conventional lineup on the track in the John McDonnell Invitational (April 19), as most UNI athletes competed for the first time in their specialty events. The result, combined with senior Rachel Jansen's performance in the hammer throw at the Kansas Relays, was 11 NCAA championship meet qualifying marks. The Panthers won three events in total, led by sophomore Dani Stipe's victory in the heptathlon that earned her a provisional spot in the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a score of 5,235 points. Junior Tyler Mulder also scored a victory, holding off a loaded field in the invitational section of the men's 800 meters to score the win in 1:48.85. The time has Mulder ranked sixth nationally in the 800 and makes him the event leader among Midwest Region competitors. Also taking an event title was sophomore Julian Morris, who won the men's high jump with a Missouri Valley Conference-leading leap of 7 feet, 1/2 inch. FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME UNI senior Amy Bagge punched her ticket to the NCAA Midwest Regional for the first time in her career with an outstanding performance in the women's invitational 800 meters at the John McDonnell Invitational (April 19). Bagge cut nearly six full seconds off her previous personal-best time, taking seventh place in the strong field in 2:09.74. MORE OF THE SAME Much as was the case throughout the indoor season, teammates Julian Morris and Ehi Oamen have found themselves battling for the win in each of their first two high jump competitions of the season. Morris held off Oamen in the John McDonnell Invitational (April 19) with a leap of 7-0 1/2 that qualified him for the NCAA Midwest Regional, while Oamen took runner-up honors by matching his outdoor season-best height of 6-10 3/4. The mark also qualifies Oamen, an All-American in the indoor high jump this season, for regional competition. WASTING NO TIME Senior Rachel Jansen made the most of her first competition of the outdoor season, posting NCAA Midwest Regional qualifying marks in three events at the Missouri Relays (March 29). Jansen, who has earned MVC Women's Field Athlete of the Week honors for her weekend performance, set a Missouri Relays record in the shot put with a throw of 54 feet, 2 1/2 inches and also posted qualifying marks in the hammer throw and discus. PANTHERS INK ANOTHER UNI added to its 2008-09 recruiting class with the signing of Adreona "A.G." Bradford on April 7. Bradford, who recently won her second-consecutive Iowa high school state indoor championship in the 60-meter hurdles, took third in the 800 meters and finished fourth in the high jump, is a six-time placewinner in just two years of competition in the A.D. Dickinson Iowa High School Indoor Championships. The Davenport (Iowa) North High School standout also is a five-time placewinner at the outdoor state meet and finished third in Class 4A at the state cross country championships as a junior. INDOOR SEASON NOTES ON THE SHORT LIST In winning the men's 800 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships, junior Tyler Mulder placed himself in some elite company. In addition to becoming the third UNI athlete to claim an NCAA Division I national title, Mulder also became just the fifth athlete from a Missouri Valley Conference institution to earn an indoor national crown. The last to do so were UNI's Jacob Pauli in the pole vault and Indiana State's Aubrey Herring in the 60-meter hurdles in 2001. Mulder is the second MVC athlete to earn an indoor 800 meters title and the first since Wichita State's Einars Tupuritis claimed the crown in 1996, a feat Tupuritis went onto repeat in the outdoor season that year. HIGHER AND HIGHER Sophomore Ehi Oamen's third-place performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships made the Hinton, Iowa, native the first UNI athlete to earn All-America honors in the high jump. His clearance of 7 feet, 2 1/4 inches also was a new personal-best for Oamen and marked the top effort by a Missouri Valley Conference athlete this season. Oamen cleared each of the first three heights on his first attempt. REPEAT THE FEAT The UNI men earned a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships for the second-consecutive season, matching the highest-ever finish by a Missouri Valley Conference team. The Panthers scored 18 points as a team, finishing just one marker behind Florida, which took eighth place. MULTI-EVENT U? With the addition of sophomore Dani Stipe to its list of NCAA Indoor Championships qualifiers, UNI is the only school in the country to qualify two athletes apiece for each of the multi-event competitions. Senior Raven Cepeda and junior Mat Clark each earned All-America honors in the men's heptathlon, while Stipe and freshman Olimpia Nowak both competed in the women's pentathlon. MORE HARDWARE UNI head coach Chris Bucknam has been named the Midwest Region Men's Coach of the Year for the fifth-consecutive season, while UNI senior Raven Cepeda has earned his second straight Midwest Region Men's Field Athlete of the Year honor, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced Monday. Bucknam, who is in his 25th season with the Panthers, received the nod as the Midwest Region's top indoor coach for the ninth time in his career. Cepeda, a three-time All-American and seven-time Missouri Valley Conference champion, also was honored as the Midwest Region's top men's field athlete in 2007. CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR Along with its seven qualifiers for the NCAA Indoor Championships, UNI saw several athletes left off the list of participants despite posting provisional qualifying marks this season. Rachel Jansen in the women's weight throw and sophomore Dani Stipe in the women's pentathlon each were not selected despite provisional marks while, on the men's side, senior Jarrel Anderson (60-meter hurdles), senior Terrance Reid (400 meters) and sophomore Dorian Ulrey (800 meters and mile run) also saw their provisional marks fail to translate into berth in the meet. A five-time All-American, Reid now must wait until the NCAA Outdoor Championships for an opportunity to become the first UNI athlete to earn six All-America citations. NO RELAY RELIEF The Panthers also saw their entry in the men's distance medley relay fail to be selected for the NCAA Indoor Championships despite posting the nation's 12th-fastest time at the Alex Wilson Invitational (March 8). UNI was the top performer in the distance medley to not be selected, as each of the 11 teams with faster times this season were tabbed for the meet. The Panthers' effort to qualify in the 4x400 relay for the NCAA championships also fell short when sophomore Cory Goos was forced to pull off the track with a calf injury midway through his leg at the Alex Wilson Invitational. UNI was leading the race at the time of Goos' injury. Last season, UNI was the only men's program to qualify both a 4x400 and distance medley relay team for the NCAA Indoor Championships. MORE RECORDS FALL The Panthers pushed their total of school records broken this season to six over the weekend, with seniors Traci Hawley and Kara Yahn each setting new standards with performances at the Alex Wilson Invitational (March 8). Hawley won the 5,000 meters in a school-record time of 16:53.76, also the leading time by a Missouri Valley Conference athlete this season. Yahn, competing unattached but with outdoor eligibility remaining, lowered the UNI record in the 60-meter hurdles to 8.59 seconds. NOBODY DOES IT BETTER In winning its ninth-straight MVC indoor championship, UNI's men's team set a conference record for most consecutive titles won. Drake held the previous record of eight straight crowns, claiming the men's team championship each year between 1968 and 1975. With the 2008 title, the UNI men now have won 11 MVC indoor championships in their 17 seasons as members of The Valley. Only Southern Illinois, which has belonged to the MVC for 33 seasons, has more team championships, with 12. LIVING UP TO THE HYPE The Panthers swept the team titles at the State Farm MVC Indoor Championships, just as they were favored to do in the league's annual pre-championship coaches' poll. The UNI men were a unanimous pick to win their ninth-straight title, while the Panthers received seven of the eight possible first-place votes in the women's pre-championship poll. REWRITING HISTORY Senior Raven Cepeda continued his assault on the Missouri Valley Conference records book at the State Farm MVC Indoor Championships, as he became the first Valley athlete to win four indoor heptathlon titles. In completing his career sweep of the heptathlon, Cepeda also became just the eighth athlete in conference history to win four titles in the same event and did so in record fashion, setting a new MVC championship meet record with his score of 5,694 points. In addition, the score of 5,906 points he achieved at the UNI Invitational on Feb. 2 gave Cepeda the UNI school record, UNI-Dome record and all-time MVC record in the event. Easily the most successful multi-event athlete in league history, Cepeda also will look to become The Valley's first three-time winner of the decathlon at the State Farm MVC Outdoor Championships in May. ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES A CHAMPION By laying claim to her third-consecutive title in the women's shot put at the State Farm MVC Championships, senior Rachel Jansen became The Valley's first three-time winner of the event. Jansen, who also set a new school record of 64-10 3/4 in the weight throw on her way to a runner-up finish in that event, owns the top shot put mark in the MVC this season at 55-7. That throw also has Jansen ranked No. 5 nationally in the event, as she seeks to defend last season's fourth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and become UNI's first four-time All-American. Jansen currently is tied with sprinter Shantel Twiggs, who tallied three All-America honors from 1993 to 1994, as the Panthers' most decorated female athlete. KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE In addition to his mastery of the multi-events, senior Raven Cepeda also extended UNI's streak of consecutive championships in the men's indoor pole vault to four by claiming the title at the State Farm MVC Indoor Championships. Cepeda set a new personal-best with his clearance of 16 feet, 10 3/4 inches, a mark also good for the best in the MVC this season. That winning effort eclipsed Cepeda's previous career-best of 16-9 3/4, which came just a day earlier in the heptathlon competition. PLAYING DEFENSE The Panthers successfully defended several of their 2007 MVC titles at this year's State Farm MVC Indoor Championships, as UNI racked up a total of 12 individual championships for the second-consecutive year. Along with seniors Rachel Jansen in the women's shot put and Raven Cepeda in the men's heptathlon, senior Crystal Hanson won her second-consecutive women's high jump title, while Jarrel Anderson backed up his 2007 crown with another win in the men's 60-meter hurdles. UNI also won its third-consecutive MVC championship in the men's distance medley relay and repeated in the men's 4x400 relay, a race the Panthers have claimed in five of the last six seasons. CAN YOU TAKE ME HIGHER? The sophomore duo of Ehi Oamen and Julian Morris continue to literally raise the bar in the men's high jump with each passing week. The tandem put together another 1-2 finish at the State Farm MVC Indoor Championships, with each jumper improving his spot on the NCAA's descending order list in the process. Morris cleared a career-best and MVC season-high 7 feet, 3 inches to claim his first Valley title, with Oamen's career-best clearance of 7-1 3/4 good for the runner-up spot and All-MVC honors. Morris currently is ranked No. 5 nationally in the event, with Oamen owning the 12th-best mark among NCAA competitors. A SECOND TIME AROUND Sophomore Dorian Ulrey became just the second UNI athlete to claim an indoor conference title in the men's mile, taking the top spot at the State Farm MVC Indoor Championships over Wichita State's Girts Azis. Ulrey, who holds UNI's school record in the event at 4:01.66, is just the second Panther to win a Valley title in the event, and the first since three-time All-American Balazs Csillag did so in 2000. NO LONGER NO. 2 Already one of the Missouri Valley Conference's top distance runners, senior Traci Hawley finally added a Valley title to her list of career accomplishments at the State Farm MVC Indoor Championships, winning the women's 3,000-meter run. Hawley took her first Valley title over rival Kellyn Johnson of Wichita State, to whom Hawley had twice finished runner-up in MVC championship competition. Johnson claimed the MVC cross country title with Hawley at her heels in October and then held off Hawley again to win the crown in the 5,000 meters on the first day of the MVC Indoor Championships. Just a day later, however, Hawley finally came out ahead. The senior, who owns the league's top 3,000 meter time at 9:42.88, relegated Johnson to a second-place finish on the final day of The Valley meet to secure her first title. HE'S GOING TO NEED A BIGGER CASE UNI director of running programs Chris Bucknam moved into elite company at the State Farm MVC Indoor Championships, as the 25th-year head coach earned the 17th and 18th MVC Track & Field Coach of the Year honors of his career by sweeping both the men's and women's honors for the 2008 indoor season. The second-highest total of annual honors collected since the MVC began handing out awards in 1992 is the 12 earned by former Illinois State men's and women's coach John Coughlan. Bucknam also has been named MVC Cross Country Coach of the Year four times, giving him a total of 22 MVC coaching honors. Bucknam took over as UNI's men's head coach in 1984 and then took the reins of the Panther women in 1997. Including UNI's years of membership in the Mid-Continent Conference, Bucknam has earned 31 league coach of the year honors. AND THEY'RE NOT DONE YET After qualifying a school-record nine events for the NCAA Indoor Championships a season ago, the Panthers have posted national meet qualifying performances in 14 events so far this season. Three of those performances have automatically qualified UNI athletes for the NCAA meet, which will be held March 14-15 in Fayetteville, Ark. Tyler Mulder, who is ranked fifth nationally in the 800 meters, has automatically qualified, as have senior Rachel Jansen, who ranks fifth nationally in the women's shot put, and senior Raven Cepeda, the national leader in the men's indoor heptathlon. The UNI men finished ninth at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships, equaling the highest-ever finish by a Missouri Valley Conference team. TWICE AS NICE For the second straight year, the Panthers boast a pair of NCAA qualifiers in the men's 800 meters, at least provisionally. Sophomore Dorian Ulrey provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the event at the UNI-Dome Open (Feb. 23), clocking in at 1:50.77. Ulrey, who also have provisionally qualified in the mile, joins junior Tyler Mulder as the Panthers' 800-meter contingent. Last season, Mulder took home All-America honors with a 10th-place finish in the 800, while then-senior Kyle Smith took third in the same race. MORE LOVE FOR THE PANTHERS UNI added another pair of weekly conference awards for the week of Feb. 26, with sophomore Dorian Ulrey taking home State Farm MVC Men's Track Athlete of the Week honors and freshman Olimpia Nowak earning the nod as the State Farm MVC Women's Field Athlete of the Week. The Valley's weekly men's track award has now gone to a UNI athlete in each of the last five weeks, including three honors for junior Tyler Mulder. All told, the Panthers have racked up 10 MVC weekly honors this season. A MILE IN HIS SHOES Sophomore Dorian Ulrey flirted with the elusive four-minute mark in the Meyo Mile competition at the Meyo Invitational (Feb. 16). Ulrey set a UNI school record with his run of 4:01.66, taking seventh place just over two seconds back of winner Jack Bolas in a highly-competitive field. Ulrey followed that performance with the second-fastest time in school history a week later at the Iowa State Classic (Feb. 23), turning in a 4:02.08. LEADING THE PACK Senior Traci Hawley vaulted to the top of the MVC best list in the women's 3,000 meters over the weekend, cutting 14 seconds off her previous personal best to clock in at 9:42.88 - the second-fastest time in school history. Hawley's run was good for seventh at the Iowa State Classic and is The Valley's fastest time of the year by 12 seconds. The effort also trimmed 28 seconds off the Panthers' previous season-best effort. Hawley also owns the MVC's best mark in the 5,000 meters, with her 17:18.49 nearly 40 seconds faster than the league's next-best time, and is ranked eighth in the mile. The Ames, Iowa, native finished as runner-up at the State Farm MVC Cross Country Championships in October. THREE'S COMPANY Senior Terrance Reid earned State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Track Athlete of the Week honors for the week of Feb. 12 following his outstanding performance at the Meyo Invitational. Reid gave UNI its third consecutive MVC men's track weekly honor, with his award coming on the heels of back-to-back honors for junior Tyler Mulder. Reid owns The Valley's top time in the 400 meters and is part of UNI's league-leading 4x400 relay squad. A five-time All-American, Reid has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in both events. STRENGTH IN NUMBERS On the men's side of The Valley's performance list, UNI boasts the league's top three times in both the 400 meters and 800 meters, as well as the two best marks in the 60 hurdles. The Panthers also own three of the top five marks in the high jump, three of the top five in the pole vault and the top two marks in the heptathlon. The Panthers also lead The Valley in the 4x400 and distance medley relays. On the women's list, the Panthers own two of the top-five times in the 5,000, the top two marks in the high jump, two of the top-five marks in the shot put and two of the top-five marks in both the weight throw and shot put. Three Panthers also are among the top five in the pentathlon. MEANWHILE, IN LINCOLN... While the 4x400 relay crew of Cory Goos, Ryan Grenko, Tyler Mulder and Terrance Reid posted an NCAA Indoor Championships qualifying mark at the Meyo Invitational, another quartet quietly posted UNI's third-fastest relay time of the season at the adidas Classic in Lincoln, Neb. Kevin Roberts, Dennis Hammel, Pete Larson and Greg Offerman combined to complete their 4x400 in 3:16.06 -- the fastest time of the year by any group other than the All-America foursome of Goos, Grenko, Mulder and Reid. FOUR MORE FOR THE PANTHERS The UNI track and field program has signed four additional athletes to National Letters of Intent, head coach and director of running programs Chris Bucknam announced Tuesday, Feb. 12. The Panthers secured commitments from long sprinter Jordan Cornilsen (Miles, Iowa/Preston) and distance runners Jillian Lageschulte (Marshalltown, Iowa/Marshalltown), Danielle Nowasell (Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell) and Alex Mark (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls), giving UNI a total of 10 signees for the 2008-09 season so far. PANTHERS INK SIX ON FIRST DAY OF SIGNING PERIOD The UNI track and field program signed six athletes to National Letters of Intent, UNI Director of Running Programs Chris Bucknam announced Feb. 7. "We signed a national-caliber recruiting class today, and we're thrilled to bring so many athletes with top-level talent to campus," Bucknam said. "We have landed several of the nation's top-rated athletes in their individual events, athletes who will make an immediate impact on our team, as well as on the landscape of the Missouri Valley Conference and collegiate track and field." The Panthers inked Andrew Perkins (
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