Knox College Prairie Fire

Senior Joe Puntoriero continued his stellar season with a breakout day at the inaugural ACM Indoor Invite hosted by Grinnell College on February 2.  He’s the latest Prairie Fire Performer of the Week Award recipient after winning the 60 and 200 meter dashes and bringing down pair of school records in the process.

Puntoriero easily qualified for the finals in the 60 meter dash by running the race in :07.21, the fourth-fastest time in the event in school history.  He went on to win the 60 meters in a school-record time of :07.13.

Puntoriero followed up his performance in the 60 meter dash with a convincing win in the 200 meter dash.  He crossed the finish line in :22.56 to shatter his own school record of :22.77 that he set two weeks prior at the Midwest Invite at Monmouth College.  Puntoriero outpaced the field by 1.35 seconds.

In addition, Puntoriero finished fourth in the long jump and ran on the Prairie Fire’s 4x200 and 4x400 relays – which also scored points for the Knox men’s team.

Head coach Jason Haynes said of Puntoriero’s effort, “Joe is really starting to cross the t’s and dot the i’s in his races.  What were once deficiencies are becoming his strengths.”