The UNI track and field team traveled to Lawrence, Kan. to compete in the Kansas Relays, taking place Thursday, April 13, through Saturday, April 15. The UNI men won the 4×100 meter relay. A Panther also had a win in the 110-meter hurdles.

Jack Sumners got third in the 110-meter hurdle preliminaries on Friday with a time of 14.22 seconds. He followed up his impressive performance with a career best on Saturday to win the event with a time of 14.18 seconds to get UNI their first gold of the meet.

The 4×100 meter relay team, composed of Tinashe Chigudu, Luke Meyers, Isaiah Trousil and Deonte Dean, won the other gold medal for UNI. They finished second in the preliminaries on Friday with a time of 40.39 seconds, but won the event on Saturday with a time of 40.65 seconds.

UNI had several other notable performances as well. In the 100-meter dash, Trousil finished second in the preliminaries with a time of 10.22 seconds. Chigudu was not far behind with a time of 10.37, which placed him eighth in the preliminaries. Dean also performed well in the preliminary heat of the 200-meter dash, finishing with a time of 20.86 seconds.

In the women’s 100-meter dash, Ariana Yaklich finished in eighth in the preliminaries with a time of 11.92 seconds. Four other runners finished close behind her, with Madelyn Sanda finishing in 11th with a time of 12.03 seconds, Libby Wedewer finishing 14th with a time of 12.12 seconds, Jill Bennett finishing 15th in 12.16 seconds and Eden Barrett finishing 16th with a time of 12.17 seconds. In the 200-meter dash preliminaries, Wedewer finished in fourth with a time of 24.48 seconds. Barrett had her career-best mark with a time of 24.89 seconds, finishing in 11th place.

The event did have to end early on Saturday due to bad weather. The events scheduled for 3 p.m. or later were canceled. Luckily, no Panther athletes were forced to miss their events.

The next meet for UNI’s track and field team is the Musco Twilight on Saturday, April 22, in Coralville, Iowa. They then have the Drake Relays and Kip Janvrin Open from Thursday, April 27, through Saturday, April 29.