ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Milwaukee men's and women's track teams sent the sprints, hurdlers, and distance athletes to Grand Valley State on Friday to compete at the Friday Big Meet. The teams put together several solid performances as the Panthers continue to prep for the Horizon League Championships.
After placing second in the preliminaries at 8.04 seconds in the 60m hurdles,
Sam Conger posted a new personal best with a mark of 7.94 seconds to finish sixth. The time places Conger as one of just three Panthers in school history to record a time below eight seconds in the event.
On the women's side,
Cloey Fare just missed advancing to the finals in the 60m hurdles but finished with her best time of the season at 8.83 seconds.
"I thought our short hurdles group ran really well," head coach
Andrew Basler said. "
Sam Conger put together a run under eight seconds finally and looked really good doing that.
Cloey Fare had a good race, just missing finals."
The Panthers men's 400m group of
Caleb Henry,
Ben Marano, and
Luke Rapisarda all finished with season-best times. Henry placed 29th with a time of 49.98 seconds with Marano (50.10) and Rapisarda (50.15) close behind at 31st and 33rd, respectively.
Anya Athan raced to a season-best time in the 400m on the women's side, placing 26th at 58.48 seconds.
"Our 400m group ran really well," Basler said. "
Caleb Henry had a breakout race and
Anya Athan continues to drop her time in a very important event for us as we head into conference."
The women's mid-distance runners put together a couple of solid performances.
Riley Hansen had a strong time in the 800m, finishing 37th with a season-best time of 2:17.59. In the mile run,
Megan Safranski ran for her top time of the season, placing 21st at 4:59.17.
In the men's 3000m,
Trevor Wenzel finished third in the second heat of the race, posting a time of 8:19.30, over ten seconds faster than his previous season best.
Milwaukee will compete at the St. Valentine's Invitational hosted by Wisconsin next Friday as the final meet before the Indoor Horizon League Championships.
"Next week we head to Madison," Basler said. "Going to stay a bit more local but we are going to see some good competition. It is our last shot at getting marks as we head into conference and one last push with the championships in two weeks."
