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  • Former Silver Creek High School track standout and current Iowa men's track team member Jack Eckert is competing in Cosmopolitan Magazine's Bachelor of the Year 2012 Contest. Photo courtesy of the University of Iowa athletic department

    Jack Eckert 2012-13test.jpg

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October 16, 2012

COLLEGE TRACK: Former Creek track standout competing in Cosmo’s Bachelor of the Year contest

Eckert taking break from classes at Iowa to visit New York this week

By KEVIN HARRIS kevin.harris@newsandtribune.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Jack Eckert has been involved in several competitions during his life, particularly in the track and field arena.

But this week, the 2010 Silver Creek High School graduate and current member of the University of Iowa men’s track team is participating in a competition that has nothing to do it with his athletic ability.

Eckert, 21, is competing in the Cosmopolitan Magazine Bachelor of the Year 2012 Contest. In conjunction with the event, Eckert is participating in Cosmopolitan’s 2012 Bachelors Flexing contest.

Voting for both events will end at 6 a.m. on Thursday. Eckert says the winners for both contests will be announced Thursday evening.

“It’s fun to be in it, just to experience the moment,” Eckert said. “I have a ton of people I know who want to vote for me.”

Eckert’s sister Molly entered him in the contest without his knowledge earlier this year. Shortly thereafter, Molly Eckert told her brother that she put him in the contest.

Then one day out of the blue, Jack Eckert got a phone call from the magazine that he was selected as the Indiana representative for the contest.

“I thought it was a joke at first,” he said when he got the call. “Then I remembered what my sister told me and I figured out what it was. I’m excited about it.”

Eckert left for New York on Wednesday morning to participate in the contest. He says he will have to make up a couple of tests at Iowa when he returns. A few weeks ago, he had to go to New York for a photo shoot for the contest.

After he returns from New York, Eckert will be getting ready for the upcoming indoor track season as he will compete in the heptathlon and the pole vault. As for the outdoor season, Eckert will participate in the pole vault, the javelin throw and the decathlon.

“I worked hard in the summer. I did more weightlifting to get ready for the season,” Eckert said. “I feel 100 percent better than last year.”

Last season, Eckert finished 14th in the decathlon at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships and 17th in the heptathlon at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. At the outdoor championships, he won the 1,500 in the decathlon. Eckert posted the fourth-highest point totals in Hawkeyes’ history in both the indoor heptathlon and the outdoor decathlon.

Also in 2012, Eckert was a part of the Academic All-Big Ten selection.

To vote for Eckert in the two contests, visit the following links:

• BACHELOR OF THE YEAR: www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/bachelors-2012/bachelors-2012-indiana.

• FLEXING CONTEST: www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/news/bachelor-face-off-flexing.

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