Panther athletics span the country

Wrestling
The University of Northern Iowa wrestling team travels to Brookings, S.D. Saturday in hopes of winning its 25th-straight NCAA West Regional Championship. The Panthers are not favored this season, however, after they finished third in the Western Wrestling Conference behind the University of Wyoming and Utah Valley University. Both schools will compete against UNI again this weekend. The competition commences at 10 a.m. with final matches scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Final matches can be seen free of charge at GoJacks.com.

Women’s basketball
UNI women’s basketball closes out its regular season schedule Saturday at the McLeod Center as they take on Wichita State University at 3:05 p.m. Four seniors will be honored as part of Senior Night, including Nicole Clausen, Lindsey Swanson, Danielle Wubbens and Kim Wypiszynski. Depending upon the outcome of their game Thursday versus Missouri State University and the outcomes of other Missouri Valley Conference games, the Panthers could enter next weekend’s MVC Tournament with a seed as high as No. 2 or as low as No. 7.

Track & Field
Select UNI track and field athletes will hope to reach or improve their NCAA qualifying marks Saturday in Ames, Iowa, at the NCAA Qualifier. Four Panther athletes have obtained provisional qualifying marks or scores this season, including Travis Leuer (high jump), Sam Kranz (pole vault), Daniel Gooris (pole vault, heptathlon) and Olimpia Nowak (pentathlon). The NCAA Indoor Championships will be held March 12-13 at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.

Softball
UNI softball will compete in Tempe, Ariz. this weekend as part of the Arizona State DeMarini Challenge. The Panthers will take on Samford University and 2009 Women’s College World Series qualifier Arizona State University Friday. Saturday UNI will face Idaho State University and Creighton University, then they will close out the tournament against University of California - Santa Barbara Sunday.

Women’s Tennis
Women’s tennis heads north this weekend to face the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay Friday and Saturday, respectively. UNI (5-3) is coming off a seven-match home stand in which they won five. The Panthers will now be on the road for their next 10 matches and will not return to the Black Hawk Tennis Club until April 17. Sophomore Phoebe Walker, UNI’s No. 1 singles competitor, was named the Missouri Valley Conference Tennis Athlete of the Week Tuesday after she won all six of her matches last weekend.