NORMAL, Ill. – In a day with less-than-ideal conditions, the Milwaukee women's track and field team competed at the second day of the Redbird Invite, placing third out of 14 teams, tallying 102 points in the process.
Host school Illinois State won the meet, finishing with 203.5 points while Northern Illinois placed just ahead of Milwaukee for second with 108 points.
In the 100m hurdles,
Natalie Block posted a new outdoor personal best in the preliminaries, running 13.98 seconds. In the finals,
Cloey Fare tallied a third-place finish with a run of 14.99 seconds and
Brooke Crosby was sixth at 15.44 seconds.
"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."
Block earned a first-place finish in the 400m hurdles with an impressive run of 1:01.25. Crosby was fifth in the same event, posting a time of 1:07.05.
Dominique Thomas and
Mercy Ndon both ran well in the 100m, finishing second and fourth, respectively. Thomas recorded a time of 12.25 seconds with Ndon close behind at 12.53.
Eileen Tocco placed first in the 3000m steeplechase at 11:28.88, posting the sixth-fastest time in program history in the event.
Sara Jochims also put together strong marks in the event, finishing third at 12:17.90.
"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,
Annie Guerrero and
Kate Watson each posted new personal bests. Guerrero tied for third in the high jump with a new best of 1.70m while Watson improved to fourth in program history in the pole vault with a jump of 3.70m.
Lauren Lietzke finished third in the shot put with a throw of 14.00m, just shy of her personal best. She also placed seventh in the discus at 37.56m.
Tabitha Wechlo was fifth in the shot put at 12.94m.
Morgan Pilate tied for third in the triple jump with a leap of 11.58m while
Olivia Busch placed sixth at 11.02m.
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."
