April 27, 2013

Complete Results

Des Moines, Iowa - Durell Busby, Alex Delveaux, Jordan Schmidt and Dexter Schleis teamed up to give the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee track & field program a historic day Saturday by winning the hurdle shuttle relay with a new school record at the 104th running of the Drake Relays.

"What a day. This is pretty exciting stuff for the track program and Panther Athletics," Milwaukee head coach Pete Corfeld said. "Words are hard to come by. It's the first time we've won a track event at Drake. We've put up a lot of big numbers and Nick Gretz won shot put here in the late 2000's, but to finally get a win was really cool. The athletes came with that in mind and a lot of credit goes to (assistant coach) Eric Kramer for his work with this group this year and it has truly paid off with this huge win."

Milwaukee's four hurdlers started the day with an impressive time of 58.10 seconds in prelims to break the school record and qualify for the afternoon finals. In the final race, the team crushed their previous record with a winning time of 56.56 to take the top spot and defeat last year's champion Indiana State by less than one tenth of a second in a thrilling race.

"Durell gave us a nice lead in both sessions and the other guys held it," Corfeld said. "That was our strategy - to have Durell build us a lead and then with the other guys, they know what to do when they're given a lead. Alex and Jordan ran well and then Dexter really anchored us to bring it home. To get this accolade in front of 25,000 people is pretty special."

Busby's day wasn't done there, however. After winning his preliminary heat in the 110m hurdles Friday, the senior took third in Saturday's final race with a blazing time of 13.84 seconds. That time is just shy of his own school record and is one of the fastest times in the country this year and by far the fastest time in the Horizon League this season.

UWM's women also had a strong day on the track Saturday. Shelby Schaal, Chelsea Maxey, Michelle Garner and Chiamaka Okonkwo combined to run the fourth-fastest shuttle hurdle in Panther history with a time of 59.76 for seventh overall on the day.

Milwaukee returns to action next weekend at the Horizon League Outdoor Championships in Ypsilanti, Mich. The Panthers are the defending outdoor champions on the men's side and both teams are peaking heading into the league meet that starts Friday and wraps up Sunday.