Panthers Run Strong In ChicagoJan. 24, 2004
CHICAGO, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men and women's track and field program took to Chicago, Ill. to compete in the University of Chicago Invitational with thoughts of shaking off the early season rust. The Panthers, coming off a consistent indoor season opening performance at Carthage College, shook off the rust and found their shine. The Panther women put on a sterling effort by running away with the meet victory by tallying 175 points. The Panther men improved upon a solid performance last weekend to score a third-place finish with 99 points. The women's track and field team cruised to a victory largely in part to a total team effort. Timeka Walker, Laura Diers, Iris Perez and Sara Vanderloop all placed in the top-four positions for the 55-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. Walker took the victory in the 55-meter dash (7.41) with Diers (7.44), Perez (7.45) and VanderLoop (7.52) claimed the next three spots. Perez ran a 26.02 to take the victory in the 200-meter dash and was followed up by VanderLoop (26.29), Walker (26.62) and Diers (26.84).
The Panthers continued their dominance by picking up victories in the 400-meter dash thanks to Teresa Braunrieter's top time of 1:00.20 and in the 4x400-meter relay with a winning time of 4:07.72. Anna Christian added to the mix by pacing herself to a victory in the 5,000-meter (18:18.70) while Jodi Hrdina and Taryn Cozine placed second and third in the 55-high hurdles. Griffin McNulty (2:24.42) and Tenia Fisher (2:24.46) raced themselves to second and third-place finishes in the 800-meter run, Christine Wampach added a third-place finish in the mile (5:17.59) and Kalin Konop rounded out the efforts with a third-place finish in the triple jump (10.61 meters).
"I was really happy with the way the women ran today," head coach Pete Corfeld said. "A coach always has questions about how strong his or her team will start the season off, but the team really seems to be in that mode of winning right out of the gates." The Panther men also turned in solid individual performances by scoring five first-place finishes. Eric Greshman took the top spot in the 400-meter with a time of 49.99, Josh Nygren ran a time of 15:06.80 in the 5,000-meter to claim first and Nick Davis jumped 2.02 meters in the high jump for the victory. Nick Gretz threw his way to a victory in the shot put with a top throw of 14.49 meters. The Panther men also added a victory in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:26.86. Other top performers on the day for the men were Jeremy Majors, Andy Kivioja and Sean Cludy. Majors placed second in the 200 (23.16), Kivioja took third in the mile (4:28.16) and Cludy jumped to a third-place finish in the triple jump (13.60 meters). "The men did a really good job with the way they performed," Corfeld said. "We didn't have our middle-distance runners with us today to claim some points, but overall, I was still pleased with the type of showing we had." The Panthers' track and field team will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 31 when they will head to Kenosha to compete in the Carthage College Invitational. The meet it set to begin at 11 a.m. |
