YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – With a pair of event wins on the opening day of the 2022 Horizon League Championships, the Milwaukee women's track and field team is currently second following the first six events.
 
The Panthers have tallied 51 points after Saturday, sitting in second behind Youngstown State.
 
Natalie Block opened the championships with a first-place finish in the pentathlon with 3722 points. The Horizon League Indoor Athlete of the Year placed first in the pentathlon 60m (8.50 seconds) and 800m (2:25.56) and earned second-place finishes in both the high jump (1.62m) and long jump (5.40m) to claim the title.
 
"A really big highlight was Natalie Block coming away as conference champion in the pentathlon," head coach Andrew Basler said. "Not only the championship but also scoring Kortnie Volk and Aubrie Gorski which is really huge team points."
 
Block also advanced to the finals after posting strong results in the prelims for the 60m hurdles and 400m. She improved her time in the 400m from earlier this season, crossing the line at 56.12 seconds, which ranks fourth all-time in the event for the Panthers.
 
Alongside Block, Enne Burton and Cloey Fare advanced to the finals in the 60m hurdles with times of 8.76 seconds and 8.81 seconds, respectively.
 
In the pole vault, Kate Watson placed first with a new personal best of 3.89m. It surpassed her previous best of 3.87m from earlier this season.
 
"Kate Watson has been trying to hit a 13-foot bar all year and while she didn't get it this weekend, she got her conference championship," Basler said. "She was seeded second coming in and came away as a champion so that was huge momentum for our team."
 
The Milwaukee throws team posted good marks, led by Lauren Lietzke's fourth-place finish in the weight throw of 16.97m. Cynthia Hernandez was right behind, placing fifth at 16.79m while Samantha Satterfield finished seventh with a throw of 16.32m.
 
Nadia Vo tallied a fifth-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 5.62m.
 
Dominique Thomas and Aubrey Anderson advanced past the prelims to compete in the tomorrow's finals. Thomas finished eighth with a time of 7.68 seconds in the 60m while Anderson raced to a time of 2:16.48 in the 800m to place eighth.
 
In the 5000m run, Mikayla Fox placed sixth at 17:36.80.
 
The first day of the championships concluded with the distance medley relay. The Panthers team of Alayna Franson, Katie Sciarini, Riley Hansen, and Eileen Tocco finished second at 12:20.85.
 
The second day of the championships begin tomorrow at 8 a.m. with the remaining events in the men's heptathlon. It will be followed by high jump, triple jump, shot put and one mile run before starting the finals of the running events at 12:30 p.m. 
 
"We're going to give it our all tomorrow," Basler said. "I think we've got just as good of a chance to make a run for a championship."