MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee men's track and field team fell short to Marquette, 77-73, in the battle for Milwaukee at the seventh annual Tierney Classic on Saturday, Jan. 18, from the Klotsche Center.
 
"I was very happy with how the team did overall," head coach Andrew Basler said, "I thought each event area for men and women had some great highlights and we took some major steps forward from where we were last week at Purdue."
 
"That's the kind of the message I relate to the team," Basler added, "that each week we got to be looking to improve upon ourselves in technique, but also doing the little things correctly because that will add up in the end."
 
The Panther 800m squad of senior Alex Cotter and junior Michael Sippy dominated the field to cross the line first and second respectively. Cotter's time of 1:54.49 is a personal record while Sippy finished in 1:56.69.
 
In only his second meet as a Panther, freshman Michael Gorman sprinted to a first-place finish in the 200m. His time of 22.82 also broke the meet record.

Gorman also ran a time of 6.94 in the 60m dash to finish fourth. This time moves him up to No. 5 on the Panther All-Time Top-10 list.
 
In a packed 3000m race, the Panthers took the top-three spots. Sophomore Trevor Wenzel crossed the line first in 8:40.28 while sophomore Jack Fitzgerald finished second in 8:45.40 and junior Corey Thornton finished third in 8:51.16.
 
Junior Jake Wendt claimed wins in both the shot put and weight throw events. Wendt threw for a mark of 15.62m (51-3) in shot put while launching a 17.33m (56-10 1/4) weight throw.
 
Teammate Caleb Rogalski followed suit and finished just behind for second place in both events. Rogalski threw for a new personal record of 15.50m (50-10 1/4) in shot put and another personal record of 16.61m (54-6) in weight throw. His launch in the weight throw is the tenth best mark in program history.
 
Freshman Gracien Jules added a Milwaukee clean sweep in the shot put after placing third with a personal record throw of 15.08m (49-5 3/4).
 
Freshman Calvin Mavin added another Panther event win in the high jump. The freshman cleared the bar at 1.93m (6-5 1/2), while teammates Tony Bretall finished second with a height of 1.92m (6-3 1/2) and Alex Hergott placed fourth at 1.82m (5-11 1/2).
 
Austin Wallace continued his strong collegiate start with a second-place finish in the 60m hurdles in a personal record time of 8.33, while teammates Konnor Fierek grabbed third (8.33) and Bryce McMurtry finished fourth (8.73).
 
Freshman Ethan Krueger threw down a time of 52.59 in the 400m to finish fourth overall.
 
The sophomore pair of Spencer Currie (4:22.32) and Jack Fitzgerald (4:22.40) led the Panthers in the mile to finish fifth and sixth respectively. Fitzgerald also grabbed a personal record after dropping three seconds from last weekend.
 
The 4x400m relay team of Sippy, Fitzgerald, Bryce Tome, and Cotter finished fourth in a tight race with a time of 3:32.26.
 
Junior Obi Iwuagwu led the Panthers in the long jump with a mark of 6.71m (22-0 1/4) for fifth and freshman Jo Coleman led in the triple jump with a second-place finish with a jump of 14.39m (46-11 1/5).
 
Senior Nate Scherer grabbed a third-place finish after clearing the bar at 4.58m (15-0 1/4) in pole vault.
 
"We are definitely excited to get our home meet under our belts and look forward to next week against Illinois to continue to grow this program."
 
UP NEXT ON THE BLOCKS
The Panthers will be back on the road for the two-day Illini Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 24-25, in Urbana-Champaign, Ill. hosted by Illinois.
 
TEAM SCORES
Marquette – 77
Milwaukee – 73