CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Milwaukee men's and women's track and field teams opened the Illinois Invitational on Friday, posting several strong performances amid windy conditions.
After the first day, the Milwaukee men sit in second with 48 points following the first eight events. Host school Illinois is first at 64 points. The women are in fifth with 23 points after seven events, while Illinois ranks first at 60 points.
"It was good to catch some warmer weather," head coach Andrew Basler said. "But we still battled some wind issues, which caused some races and jumps to be illegal. Still, I thought we had some good positives and some good highlights."
Gracien Jules posted a new personal best in the men's hammer throw, finishing fourth at 56.12m. Caleb Rogalski was right behind, placing fifth with a throw of 55.00m, just shy of his previous best.
"I thought Gracien and Caleb did really well," Basler said. "Had a chance to get to the finals and get some more throws in which was a good way to start their weekend."
Trevor Wenzel finished runner-up in the men's 5000m, recording a time of 14:38.18. Ian Nadolski was 12th, posting a time of 15:03.02.
The men's long jump duo of Austin Wallace (7.59m) and Obi Iwuagwu (7.23m) posted strong results, finishing second and fifth, respectively. Will Mortimer was 10th in the event at 5.47m.
Nadio Vo was second in the women's long jump, recording a leap of 5.64m. Kortnie Volk tallied a fourth-place finish at 5.61m. Jakara Edwards-House (5.47m) was the third Panther to score in the event, placing sixth.
Milwaukee had two scorers in the men's javelin, with Brett Clevidence leading the way with a fourth-place mark at 50.96m. Matthew Bye (45.79m) added points by finishing eighth, and Tony Bretall recorded a throw of 43.92m for 11th.
Evan Bartelsen placed eighth in the men's pole vault, recording a mark of 4.43m.
In the women's 5000m, Mikayla Fox finished fifth overall with a time of 17:35.08. Meg Swietlik (18:19.07), Emily Burns (18:19.39), and Madison Hughes (18:19.54) were consecutive finishers, finishing 10th through 12th.
Ben Marano (53.97) and Dane Nelson (54.14) were back-to-back finishers for the Panthers in the 400m hurdles, finishing sixth and seventh. On the women's side, Brooke Crosby placed seventh in the 400m hurdles, crossing the line at 1:05.32.
"I think our 400m hurdlers had a really good day," Basler added. "Crosby, Nelson, and Marano all had lifetime bests, so it was a really good push forward for them."
Michael Gorman finished fourth in the 200m, posting a strong time of 21.39 seconds.
In the women's hammer, Samantha Satterfield recorded a 10th-place finish at 47.28m while Lauren Lietzke was 12th at 45.73m.
Day two of the Illinois Invitational gets underway tomorrow morning with field events starting at 10 a.m.
