MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Milwaukee women's track and field team came out on top to win the battle for Milwaukee, 76-74, over Marquette at the seventh annual Tierney Classic on Saturday, Jan. 18, from the Klotsche Center.
 
The high jump pair of senior Ashley Melvin and sophomore Annie Guerrero highlighted the day after breaking the high jump school record together.
 
As the final two jumpers, Melvin and Guerrero both cleared the bar at 1.72m to break the previous record of 1.71m held by Melvin and Lynda Thiel.
 
"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."
 
Junior Kyra Arendt led the field in both the long jump and triple jump. Arendt jumped to a new personal record in the long jump with a mark of 5.69m (18-8) while jumping 12.21m (40-0 3/4) in triple jump.
 
Sophomore Lauren Lietzke grabbed two personal records on the day. First, the sophomore threw a PR mark of 12.45m (40-10 1/4) in shot put for a fourth-place finish and then launched a personal record of 15.99m (52-5 1/2) in the weight throw also for a fourth-place finish. Teammate Cecilia Petrie grabbed one personal record in the weight throw for fifth place (14.99m).
 
Sophomore Kate Watson had a top-three finish in pole vault after clearing the bar at 3.48m (11-5).
 
From the track, senior Mercy Ndon claimed two event wins on the day. Ndon first sprinted to a time of 7.77 in the 60m dash and then ran the 200m in 25.98 to break the meet record.
 
Teammate Jakara Edwards-House grabbed third place in the 60m dash (7.98) while Anya Athan claimed second-place behind Ndon in the 200m (27.06).
 
Senior Jasmine Bickerstaff ran a time of 9.15 to claim another event win for the Panthers in the 60m hurdles.
 
In the 800m, sophomore Riley Hansen sealed a big lead to win in a personal record time of 2:19.46.
 
Senior Mikayla Fox led the field in the 3000m to a personal record time of 10:03.15. This time is now the eighth-fastest time in program history. Teammate Emily Burns was next to cross the line for second place with a time of 10:24.65.
 
Junior Megan Safranski led the Panthers to a second-place finish in the mile in a personal record time of 5:01.36. This time is also the seventh fastest in program history.
 
Junior Maddie Martin threw down a time of 1:00.63 in the 400m for a second-place finish.
 
Closing out competition was the 4x400m relay. The Milwaukee relay team of Athan, Alyssa Goesch, Enné Burton, and Maddie Martin finished second with a time of 4:11.79 while the team of Hanson, Madison Franseen, Safranski, and Maddie Wood claimed fourth in 4:18.00.
 
"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
Milwaukee – 76
Marquette – 74