May 8, 2008

ST. LOUIS - A pair of University of Northern Iowa seniors have earned weekly track and field awards from Missouri Valley Conference, the league announced Thursday.

 

UNI senior Rachel Jansen earned State Farm MVC Women's Field Athlete of the Week honors after winning three events and setting a school record at last weekend's Musco Twilight Invitational, while senior Jarrel Anderson has been named State Farm MVC Men's Track Athlete of the Week after clocking the conference's best 110-meter hurdles time this season.

 

Jansen went 3-for-3 over the weekend, winning the women's shot put, discus and hammer throw titles at the Musco Twilight Invitational in Iowa City, Iowa, and doing so in record fashion. Jansen broke her own school record in the hammer throw for the second consecutive week, throwing 202 feet, 7 inches to take the top spot and set new meet and Cretzmeyer Track records, as well. Jansen set the previous school standard with a throw of 201-2 at last weekend's Drake Relays.

 

The senior also Saturday set new meet and facility records with her winning heave of 54-1 in the shot put and claimed the discus title with a season-best throw of 171-1. Jansen owns the MVC's top marks in the shot put and the discus, and is ranked second in the hammer throw, having qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional in each of the three events. She is currently ranked second in the Midwest (and ninth nationally) in the shot put, fifth in the hammer throw and ninth in the discus.

 

Anderson posted the MVC's top time of the season in the 110 hurdles over the weekend, winning the event at the Musco Twilight in the process. Anderson clocked in at 14.29 seconds to take the victory and recorded a time of 14.18 in the preliminaries to qualify himself for the NCAA Midwest Regional for the first time.

 

The Valley's two-time defending champion in the indoor 60-meter hurdles, Anderson has been slowed by a broken toe early in the outdoor season but finds himself ranked 14th among Midwest Region competitors.

 

A small group of UNI competitors will head to Madison, Wis., this weekend to take part in the Wisconsin Twilight meet, the Panthers' final tune-up for the State Farm MVC Outdoor Championships, which will be held May 16-18 in Carbondale, Ill.