SAN ANTONIO, Texas – UIW head track and field coach, Derek Riedel, and his staff have announced their signing class for the 2019 season.

According to Riedel, "This fall class is small but it packs a lot of potential. Each of these athletes fit specific needs that we want to address with this class. They will fit very well within the UIW Track & Field family and they'll help us jump start another fantastic recruiting class. We also secured a walk-on we are very excited about. She is a 5:10 miler out of west Texas who is going to do our Army ROTC program. We will officially announce her with our spring signing group."


Maddie Marone (Round Rock, Texas/McNeil HS) was the 2017 district 13-6A Champion in the 1600. She also finished first in the 3200 with a personal best of 11:30.78. Marone recorded a 5:13.27 PR in the mile to become runner up in the event at the Area 13-14 meet later in the season. At the McNeil invite, she crossed the line in 18:58.01 for a new best in the 5k. Marone was the 2017 Cross Country district champion and qualified individually for the state meet.

Riedel on Marone: "Maddie's enthusiasm, passion, and drive to be the best student-athlete she can be immediately jumped out to us when we started recruiting her. We had no connection to her at the start of the process but we quickly built a rapport that made her a natural fit for UIW. Maddie will be a versatile distance runner for the program and her strong work ethic will fit in nicely with the program. We are ecstatic to have her!"


Emily Cartwright (San Antonio Texas/ East Central HS) has personal best marks of 5:31.55 in the 1600 and 12:02.93 in the 3200. She posted her fastest time in the 5k (18:30.00) at the District 27 6A meet. Cartwright finished first at the district cross country meet in 2017. She went on to place twelfth at regionals to become an individual state qualifier. 

Riedel on Cartwright: "We have known Emily since she was a freshman in HS and first attended our summer cross country camp. We knew then that she would continue to develop well throughout high school. Her progression this fall was tremendous and that really sealed the deal for us! We know that once she is on a team with girls that are more experienced than her she will show tremendous improvement. What I'm most excited about is that she is going to have HUGE track PRs this spring. I wouldn't be surprised to see her drop 45 seconds in the 3200 and 15-20 seconds in the mile based on how much she improved this fall."


Cash Kunkel (Brenham, Texas/Brenham HS) was the 1A state champion in the 3200 in 2016. He recorded a personal best of 1:57 in the 800 meters to place third at the UIL 2A State championships (2017). Kunkel competed in the 3200m at the 2017 TTFCA Meet of Champions where he posted a time of 9:41 to finish sixth. He ran his fastest 5k time in 15:57 to place second in the district.

Riedel on Kunkel: "Cash has extensive experience at the Texas state meet level dating all the way back to his sophomore year when he finished 2^nd in cross country and won the 3200m as a sophomore. He has consistently improved as a middle distance runner despite also playing baseball and basketball and never fully focusing on his running. He also missed 3 months of training his junior year following foot surgery and still returned to set a 1600m PR. I believe he'll run 4:15 this spring! We are excited to have Cash join us because he'll help us continue our strong tradition of top-level milers. We had 3 men run sub 3:50 last year (1500) and we see Cash running at that level sooner rather than later."


Emmanuel Toney (San Antonio, Texas/Johnson HS) competes in the 100, 200 and long jump. Last season, Toney placed third in the 200 meters at the district meet with a personal best of 22.68. He crossed the line in 11.08 for a PR and 5^th place finish in the 100 meters at the District 25-26 Area meet. His best mark in the long jump is 23'0.

Riedel on Toney: "Emmanuel showed interest in us this summer and our interest in him was immediate. He's a local product at a high school that we highly respect and recruit from often. He is the best jumper in the city and we believe he will show some major improvement this spring. He'll have a dedicated jumps coach this spring for the very first time. What's even more exciting is that his jumps coach at Johnson was a Division 1 sprints/jumps coach for 15 years. He'll get Emmanuel ready for this level as well as help him improve his sprint times which will only help his jumping. Emmanuel is a well-rounded person who's committed to his faith and also works a part-time job on top of his school and athletic commitments. We love his work ethic and drive."

UP NEXT

The Cardinals will open up their indoor season at the Texas A&M Team Invitational. The meet will take place at Gilliam Indoor Stadium on Jan. 12 in College Station, Texas.

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