Northern Iowan t h e u n i v e r s i t y o f n o r t h e r n i o wa’s s t u d e n t - p r o d u c e d n e w s p a p e r s i n c e 1 8 9 2
JUNE 15, 2012
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VOLUME 108, ISSUE 56
FRIDAY
CEDAR FALLS, IOWA
TRACK AND FIELD
3 UNI Track and Field student athletes named All-Americans BRAD EILERS Sports Editor
Three student-athletes from the University of Northern Iowa track and field program earned AllAmerican status last week. Juniors Daniel Gooris and Jordan Williams, along with senior Olimpia Nowak, were named second team AllAmericans after their performances at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. To earn All-American status, competitors must finish in the top 16 in their respective events. The top eight finishers are first team AllAmericans while the remaining eight are named to the second team. Gooris was UNI’s top performer at the Outdoor Championships, finishing 10th in the decathlon with a personal-best 7,629 points. This marks Gooris’ second time as an All-American after being named to the sec-
ond team last year as well. Gooris is the sixth Panther since 2006 to finish in the top 10 in the decathlon. “It was nice having a (personal best) in the (1500meter). I wasn’t expecting it,” said Gooris. “I went out pretty fast and then slowed down a lot - and it just happened. I couldn’t tell you how the race went.” “In typical UNI fashion, Daniel Gooris competed with the heart of a champion,” said UNI head track and field coach Dan Steele following the event. “Setting a lifetime best at the NCAA Championships is all we can ask of any of our athletes.” Nowak used the secondhighest heptathlon score of her career (5,593 points) to earn a 12th-place finish. This marks the third consecutive season in which Nowak has finished in the nation’s top 12 for the heptathlon. Nowak is also a three-time NCAA < See TRACK AND FIELD, page 3
Film Critic
I walked out of “Prometheus” blinking in the sunlight, and really, really wanting to like it. I thought I did. But the more I thought about the film, its characters and plot, the less I could really claim to like it. The most apt word I can apply to my relationship with the film is “frustrated.” Frustrated because the film works so incredibly hard against itself: “Prometheus”
KARI BRAUMANN
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Executive Editor
< See SOLAR BOATS, page 2
‘Prometheus’ looks great, but lacks answers
combines gorgeous composition and art, incredible effects and wonderfully directed individual scenes with sloppy, stupid characters and a plot that makes so very little sense when stitched together into a limping, uneven whole that is ultimately disappointing. But I’m not ready yet to call it bad. On the contrary, “Prometheus” is one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen this year. Swiss artist H. R. Giger, notable for designing the monsters and the sets from the original “Alien”
UNI to host solar boating championship
< See PROMETHEUS, page 3
FILM REVIEW
ALEX TOFT
SUSTAINABILITY
(1977), has returned to help create the creatures and concept artwork, and it is just as unsettling and terrifying as it has ever been in his psychosexual, techno-organic style. Director Ridley Scott proves over and over again that he can still frame and direct tense and effective scenes: the movie’s opening, a series of crane shots over primordial Earth, climaxes with an amazing reveal of a massive alien ship by focusing on its shadow moving across a barren plain. Also, there is a scene unofficially termed “the caesarean” online that is masterfully done and horrifying in a truly classical sense: the viewer must fight their conflicting desires of watching the scene unfold and wanting to look away until it’s over. It is disappointing, then, when you watch the rest of the movie coalesce so awkwardly. The movie has a sort of mobile quality to it, like a series of great scenes existing around one another with very little actually connecting them together. They occupy the same space in a nebulous cloud, but don’t quite fit together as a narrative. Much of the blame will probably be laid at the feet of the main screen-
JUSTIN ALLEN/Northern Iowan
Aboard an alien vessel, David (Michael Fassbender) makes a discovery that could have worldchanging consequences in “Prometheus.”
NORTHERN-IOWAN.ORG
ollege students from around the world in solar boats will make a splash this weekend in Cedar Falls. The University of Northern Iowa is hosting the 2012 Solar Splash World Championship of Intercollegiate Solar Boat Racing from Wednesday, June 13 through Sunday, June 17, at George Wyth State Park. This is UNI’s second turn at hosting the solar boating championship. In 2009, UNI obtained hosting rights for the 2011-2013 championships. The championship draws in teams from a variety of schools internationally. In 2011, 21 teams from four different countries competed in the championship. Students competing in the championships have control of their boats throughout the preparation process. They are responsible for designing and building their teams’ boats. During the five-day event, the teams earn points in seven different categories that assess the boats’ technical quality and racing ability. The categories include technical inspections and reports, engineering design, visual displays, workmanship, endurance, slalom and sprint. The UNI Solar Boat Team has participated in the event since 2000. They have experienced success in recent years, earning third place overall in 2009 and 2010 and taking fourth place overall in the 2011 competition. According to Reg Pecen, UNI professor of industrial technology, Solar Splash began in Milwaukee, Wis., in 1994 and is a hands-on educational experience that develops teamwork and interdisciplinary skills. “This competition allows undergraduates to be involved in applied engineering and technology research on alternate and green water transportation and to develop confidence in their abilities,” Pecen said in a press release. According to Pecen, UNI’s team is honored to be hosting an international
The University of Northern Iowa’s Daniel Gooris in the UNI-Dome earlier in the track and field season. Gooris earned second team All-American status in the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, last week.
COURTESY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX/MCT CAMPUS
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