UNI track and field has a standout ‘utility’ athlete: 4-time MVC champion Parker Kiewiet

CEDAR FALLS — Hear the term utility player and most will think of baseball or softball. However, Northern Iowa’s Parker Kiewiet offers track and field coach Dave Paulsen a level of versatility commensurate to a do-it-all ball player.

At the Missouri Valley Conference Outdoor Championships two weeks ago, the Dike-New Hartford product won the long jump, 200 and 400-meter dashes and ran the third leg of the Panthers’ winning 4x400-meter relay team.

Somehow that wasn’t everything, as Kiewiet was also part of the Panthers’ 4x100-meter relay team.

“Honestly, out of that meet it was just, wow,” Kiewiet said. “I seriously couldn’t believe what was going on. Whether that be myself and all the (personal records) that I ended up having or my teammates performing the way they performed. It was crazy.”

While his skills to compete at a high level in so many events is something any coach would sign up for, Paulsen said it does make for tough decisions.

“There’s not a lot of guys that have that kind of range,” Paulsen said. “He’s definitely a special talent. It’s kind of tricky sometimes to figure out what you want to do with him.”

When it comes to readying himself for the intense workloads of competing in multiple events, Kiewiet credited his mental approach and weight lifting.

“Your mind is super powerful. Especially in track and field. If your mind is not there then usually your legs aren’t there,” Kiewiet said. “The weight room has been really key for me. It’s really paying off right now and I don’t know if that’s what it is, but we’re going to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

In his second year at UNI, he already holds the program’s second-best marks in the long jump and 200-meter dash, the two events he’ll be competing in at this week’s NCAA West Regional Prelims in Fayetteville, Ark.

“There’s no special type thing, it’s just the consistency of the workouts that (assistant coach Jeff) Coover has been giving me,” Kiewiet said of his preparation. “We’ve been doing the same things in practice that we were doing last year. You just have to be consistent when it comes to those practices in trying hard and giving it your all in practices and weight lifting. You take breaks and there goes your process.”

The NCAA West Region Prelims begin Wednesday and wrap up on Saturday (SEC Network+). Athletes with top-12 times or marks qualify for the NCAA Championships June 8-11 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

“If I do what I did in the long jump, it should be good enough to be able to make it. Obviously, I gotta do it, but envisioning that, it’s honestly making me so happy I’ve got to stop thinking about it,” Kiewiet said. “I’ve got to focus on the next step.”