The UNI men’s and women’s track teams competed at the SDSU Indoor Classic in Brookings, S.D., on Feb. 10 and 11. The women finished second out of 21 teams, while the men finished fourth out of 29.

For the women, the throwing events saw several strong performances. More than a third of UNI’s 111.6 points came from two events, the weight throw and the shot put. In the shot put, three Panthers placed in the top eight. Katie Fare placed first with a throw of 54 feet, 8.75 inches, while Mackenna Wilson placed second at 51 feet, 9.75 inches. Freshman Sarah Byrd rounded out the trio of Panther throwers with a seventh-place throw of 46 feet. In the weight throw, Wilson was victorious with a throw of 65 feet, 0.5 inches, while Mari Shavers was second at 62 feet, 7.75 inches. 

Pole vault and high jump also stood out for the Panther women. In the pole vault, three Panthers finished in the top eight. Alivia Silvestri and Isabelle Holtzen highlighted this with fourth and fifth-place vaults, both at 11 feet, 9.75 inches. In the high jump, two Panthers finished in the top five, with Riley Todd placing fourth and Katy Stephens taking fifth, both with jumps of 5 feet, 3 inches.

In the track events, the Panther distance runners showed out in the 5000-meter run, with a sixth place finish from Emma Hoins in 17:18.45 and a seventh place finish from Kate Crawford in 17:20.01.

In the 400-meter dash, the Panther women have several strong runners. Three Panther women placed within the top eight in the 400 meters, with Erin Kerkhoff leading the way with a fifth-place finish in 57.05. The depth of the UNI women at the 400 translated nicely in the day’s final event, with the UNI women taking silver in 3:50.23 in the 4×400-meter relay.

The UNI men had themselves a nice two days as well. Leading the way was Parker Kiewiet. Kiewet took home gold in the 400 meters with a time of 46.26, smashing the meet record and even cracking the facility record. Kiewet’s time now ranks second all-time, as he narrowly missed the 19-year-old school record by nine one-hundredths of a second. Kiewet’s time was so fast his time could have placed sixth at the 2022 Indoor National Championships. In the 800-meter run, four Panthers finished in the top eight, highlighted by Drake Hanson capturing the gold in 1:50.47 and Chase Knoche finishing fourth in 1:52.05. The UNI men closed out the day with a third place finish in the 4×400-meter relay in 3:15.18.

Next, the UNI men and women will head to Iowa City on Feb. 17 for the Iowa Open, hosted by the University of Iowa. This will be their final indoor meet before the Missouri Valley Conference meet in Chicago.