MINNEAPOLIS – The Milwaukee men's and women's track and field programs got their weekend started on Friday afternoon, taking on some tough competition at the Jack  Johnson Classic hosted by the University of Minnesota.
 
The men's heptathlon got started with the initial four events, while the women took on the pentathlon. The women's pole vault was also contested on the first day of the classic, with more action to fill the day on Saturday.
 
Men's Heptathlon
The Panthers had a pair of entries in the men's heptathlon as Austin Wallace and Tony Bretall looked for their first event in multis this indoor season.
 
"Each multi was going after a little something different," said head coach Andrew Basler. "With Austin we have a plan in place to get him to a mark to qualify for the NCAA Championships and we're on pace for that and looking good heading into day two. Tony is having a really good multi so far, and he's been very consistent through his first four events."
 
Wallace finished in the top two in each of the first four events, including wins in the long jump at 7.46 and the shot put with a 14.10, as his shot put throw came as a new personal-best. Wallace picked up a personal best in the 60 dash at 7.02, while he finished second in the high jump at 1.92 meters.
 
Bretall also had a personal record in the 60 dash as he crossed the line at 7.46. Bretall had top-10 finishes in his other three events with a fourth place finish in the high jump at 1.89m, seventh in the shot put at 11.72m and ninth in the long jump at 6.02m.
 
Women's Pentathlon
Milwaukee entered four for the women's pentathlon with Natalie Block, Aubrie Gorski, Jada Schuh and Kortnie Volk set to take on their first multi-event of the season.
 
"We were a little more inconsistent on the women's side with some positives and some things that didn't go well," added Basler. "That's the life of a multi, if things go well, you can ride that momentum, and when things don't go well you've got to fight through it. I'm still proud of these four and we're in a good place to learn and grow moving forward."
 
Block was within one one-hundredth of a second of tying the meet and facility record in the 60m hurdles, finishing with an 8.45 as the current mark for both records at the event is 8.44. Block was second in the 800m as she set a new personal-best amongst her indoor times with a 2:21.56 while also finishing second in the long jump at 5.55m. She rounded out her events with a 1.45m in the high jump, which was good enough for 10th place in the field.
 
Volk tied her personal-best in the high jump at 1.48 meters, which is also her best during indoor meets. Volk also had a PR in the shot put at a distance of 11.72m. She was third in the long jump at 5.47m and fourth in the 800m at 2:27.09 to set a new PR for indoor meets. She had a time of 10.82 in the 60m hurdles.
 
Gorski had three finishes in the top-six, with a pair of fifth place personal bests in both the long jump at 5.42 meters and in the 800m at 2:28.10. She finished sixth in the 60m hurdles at 9.11 and was 13th in the shot put at 8.98m, she did have an indoor personal-best in the high jump at 1.39 but was 14th in the event.
 
Schuh had a top-10 finish in the 800m with a 2:39.62, while also finishing the 60m hurdles in a time of 9.64. During the high jump she cleared 1.42 meters and cleared 4.81 meters in the long jump. In the shot put Schuh had a toss of 9.14 meters for her best throw of the day.
 
Women's Pole Vault
In two divisions of the women's pole vault, Kate Watson previously qualified for the championship and faced tough competition to place sixth in the event. Meanwhile in the open, Ella Laughbaum and Isabel Roloff took home the top-two spots for the Panthers.
 
"Ella and Isabel competed really well with their 1-2 finish," added Basler. "Kate was in a tough field with some really good vaulters and had some really good looks at her school record and had a good day as well."
 
Watson cleared a height of 3.28 meters and made several pushes at her recently set school mark of 3.97 meters set at the Midwest Invite two weeks ago.
 
Laughbaum and Roloff each set personal bests during their first indoor seasons with the program, as Laughbaum was first in the division as she cleared 3.67 meters, while Roloff was second with a height of 3.52 meters.
 
Up Next
The full team is back in action tomorrow for day two of the Jack  Johnson Classic, the day starts off at approximately 10:30 a.m.
 
"We're very excited for tomorrow with the rest of the team competing and we're in a good place to push our marks", Basler concluded.