FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Milwaukee men's track & field team finished third at the 2023 Horizon League Indoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Purdue Fort Wayne this weekend at the Lutheran Health Fieldhouse.
 
"We knew our men's team would be fighting closely for second, and we knew it wasn't going to be easy," said head coach Andrew Basler. "I could call out so many of these individuals on this team that did extremely well, but I'm just proud of everyone on this team. I couldn't be prouder of how they competed. While today does sting, hopefully it will allow us to refocus our energy and we can change some habits to where we're not falling short of our goals."
 
The Panthers ended the championship with 139 points, narrowly missing out on second place by just nine points to Oakland. Youngstown State won the men's title with a 221-point total. Milwaukee continues its stay at the top of the league with a top-three finish for the 20th consecutive season, including 11 championships during that span.
 
Following the two-day Championship, Milwaukee's Caleb Rogalski was named Outstanding Field Performer, following his showing in the shot put on Sunday coupled with his win in the weight throw on Saturday. Rogalski becomes just the fifth Panther to earn the honor since its introduction at the 2000 championships and makes it back-to-back winners for the Panther program as teammate Austin Wallace won the Outstanding Field Performer in 2022.
 
The day started with the conclusion of the heptathlon as Jack Misky took third in the 60m hurdles with a 9.15 and was fifth in the 1000m run to finish in sixth place in the multi-event with a personal-best score of 4126 points as he was sixth in the final standings of the event.
 
The high jump was next and saw two Panther place in the top-four as Bryant McLaughlin was third at 2.01 meters, while Anthony Campbell was fourth at 2.01 meters as well.
 
The shot put and triple jump closed out the morning session as Milwaukee added 14 points in the shot and nine in the triple. Rogalski picked up eight points with a throw of 16.76 meters to finish second while Gracien Jules was third with a throw of 16.56 meters for six points. Will Mortimer took third in the triple jump at 14.04 meters, while Bishop Bufford was sixth at 13.89 meters for three points.
 
Chris Hudnall added the first points of the day on the track in the 60m hurdles as he got out to a quick start but finished second with a time of 8.16. Dane Nelson was third with an 8.28.
 
Caleb Henry led Milwaukee in the 400m dash with a fourth-place finish at 49.80, while Caleb Anderson was seventh at 50.95. Golden Cotton was third in the 60m dash at 6.88 with Anthony Kessler in eighth at a time of 7.03. Cotton was also third in the 200m dash at 22.18, with Dane Nelson finishing in seventh place with a 22.70.
 
In distance events Nate Griepentrog secured a point for MKE in the 800m as he clocked in at 1:58.40. Trevor Wenzel took second in the 3,00 meter run with a time of 8:32.84.
 
The day concluded with the 4x400 relay as Anderson, Zac Schmidt, Nelson and Henry finished third in a back-and-forth battle with a time of 3:21.77 to add the final six points to Milwaukee's team total.

Beyond the point-scorers for Milwaukee, three additional personal bests fell as Caden Thomas had a 1.96m in the high jump, while McLaughlin at 13.38 and Chris Dobbie had a 13.33-meter jump in the triple jump.
 
Saturday Results
Day one saw Milwaukee win a pair of events as Rogalski set a new Panther program record in the weight throw at 19.22 meters. Wallace also won the long jump at 7.52 meters.
 
Campbell in the long jump, while Dylan Sieloff and Evan Bartelsen in the pole vault recorded points for Milwaukee. Jules along with Rogalski added points for the Panthers in the weight throw.
 
On the track, Wenzel finished fifth in the 5000-meter run, while the distance medley quartet of Aidan Sodemann, Schmidt, Gavin Czarnecki and Carter Eckhoff secured points for the Milwaukee team total.