NORMAL, Ill. – The Milwaukee men's track and field team competed in the remainder of the events at the Redbird Invite Saturday, finishing second out of 12 teams with 129.5 points in the rainy conditions.
Host school Illinois State won the meet, tallying 171 points. Illinois finished behind Milwaukee for third with 92 points.
The Panthers 110m hurdles team put together a strong day, posting four finishers in the top eight.
Sam Conger won the event with a time of 14.25 seconds while
Dane Nelson placed second at 14.50 which ranks 10th in program history.
Tony Bretall (16.67) and
Jack Misky (18.37) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, adding points for Milwaukee.
"Our short hurdlers started the year well," said head coach
Andrew Basler. "It was rainy and windy, but Natalie Block started off with a lifetime best in 100 hurdles. I thought
Sam Conger ran well in the finals, so it was a good opener for them."
In the 400m hurdles, Nelson posted a second-place finish with a time of 54.81 while
Ben Marano (57.26) and Conger (57.97) finished back-to-back for fifth and sixth.
The 100m team continued to showcase the speed of Milwaukee, as
Golden Cotton won the event with a run of 10.87 seconds.
Michael Gorman was just behind at 10.98 to finish fourth while
Anthony Kessler was eighth at 11.19.
Aidan Sodemann won the 3000m steeplechase, with a time of 9:23.17. The mark puts him eighth on the program's top-10 list.
"Considering the conditions I think we saw some positive performances," Basler commented. "Our steeplechase went well with Tocco and Sodemann having some good PRs. The wind had died down at that time, so I thought it went perfect for them."
In the field events,
Gracien Jules continued his impressive meet with a second-place finish in the shot put and third-place finish in the discus. His 16.82m throw in the shot put places him second in program history.
Obi Iwuagwu was first in the triple jump with a leap of 14.50m.
Will Mortimer placed fourth in the long jump at 6.51m while
Bryant McLaughlin tied for fourth in the high jump at 1.85m. In the pole vault,
Evan Bartelsen also finished fourth with a jump of 4.60m.
Milwaukee's javelin team was impressive, placing four in the top six finishers.
Brett Clevidence was runner-up in the event at 48.50m.
Matthew Bye (44.27),
Tony Bretall (42.67), and
Jack Misky (41.09) were consecutive finishers, placing fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively.
Milwaukee will once again split the team next weekend. Most of the squad with compete at the Marquette Open on Friday, April 8 while others will travel to College Station for the Texas A&M Team Invitational which will be held on April 8-9.
"I think it was a very solid opener for us," Basler said. "We're looking forward to heading down to some warmer weather with a select group at Texas A&M next weekend. Those that don't travel will stay local and compete at a meet that Marquette is hosting at Wisconsin Lutheran."
