YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – On Saturday, the Milwaukee women's track & field team competed in the second day of the 2023 Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Youngstown State.
 
At the conclusion of the second day, the Panthers are currently in second place and are in striking range of current leader Youngstown State. Milwaukee is at 100 points with Youngstown State pacing the field with 115 points. Purdue Fort Wayne is currently in third with 50 points.
 
"Today was one of the best conference championship days that I have been here since taking over as head coach at Milwaukee," said head coach Andrew Basler. "We had a lot of momentum that kept building throughout the day. Team support was a huge player in today, and when big performances happen it leaked into other events and those athletes saw their teammates go big and that just snowballed for us."
 
"The team is really setting up well to go after a team championship on Sunday," added Basler. "We have to go out there and execute, but we're excited as a team and a program at making a run at it tomorrow."
 
Milwaukee had one individual champion on the day as Tabitha Wechlo continued Milwaukee's success in throws as she won the shot put and secured 10 points for the team score in the process. For Wechlo it was her second-consecutive title at the Horizon League Outdoor Championships.
 
Numerous preliminary heats took place in advance of Sunday's final schedule, with the Panthers seeing a pair of qualifiers in both the 100m and 400m hurdle events including Brooke Crosby qualifying for both. Dominique Thomas also qualified for the finals in both the 100m and 200m dashes, while Leah Handshoe also qualified for the 400m dash as well as the 400m hurdles.
 
Day 2 Summary
In throws, it was Wechlo to win the shot put with a 14.49-meter throw on her fourth throw of the event and nearly matched the mark on her final throw. Lauren Lietzke added five points for the Panther team score as she finished fourth with a 14.01-meter throw.

--The Women's Hammer Throw was Originally Scheduled for Sunday, but was Moved to Saturday--
Jamie Pankratz took second in the hammer throw on Saturday, finishing with a mark of 50.38 meters as she registered eight more points for the Panthers. Two more Milwaukee throwers added points to the team total as Lietzke had a mark of 49.51 meters for fourth place, while Cynthia Hernandez was seventh with a personal-best throw of 47.82 meters. 
 
Saturday also marked the conclusion of the heptathlon for Kortnie Volk and Jada Schuh. Volk finished third with a final score of 4606 points, while Schuh took sixth at 4146 points.
 
Volk finished second in the long jump as she cleared 5.62 meters. Volk added another two top-five finishes with a career-best 32.91-meter in the javelin and added a 2:28.77 in the 800m run. Schuh had a new career-best mark in the javelin throw with a 34.06-meter throw to take third in the event, while also setting a new career mark in the 800m run at 2:31.81.
 
Kate Watson finished second in the pole vault and added eight points as she cleared a height of 3.83 meters. Freshmen Ella Laughbaum and Isabel Roloff had strong debuts at the Horizon League Outdoor Championships in the pole vault, as Laughbaum took sixth with a new career-best and moved into fifth in program history at 3.73 meters. Roloff added a seventh-place finish at 3.63 meters.
 
Away from the heptathlon, Volk had a career-best mark in the open long jump as she cleared 5.66 meters for fifth place and four team points. Morgan Pilate also had a career mark in the event with a 5.57-meter leap for seventh place among the 25 to record distances in the event.
 
On the track, Milwaukee saw success in both hurdle events as four Panthers qualified for the finals on Sunday. Crosby qualified for both the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.44, as well as the 400m hurdles with a 1:03.62. Meanwhile, Cloey Fare set a new career-best mark and moved up to fourth in program history with a time of 14.04 in the 100m hurdles. Handshoe also advanced to the finals in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:03.38, a new personal-best.
 
Handshoe will be busy on Sunday, as she also qualified for Sunday's finals in the 400m after registering a preliminary time of 56.92.
 
Like Handshoe, Thomas will also be in a pair of final events tomorrow as the sophomore sprinter was among the conference-best times all season and continued that today with a mark of 11.75 in the 100m dash and a 24.30 in the 200m dash qualifiers today.
 
Anelise Egge had a personal-best time and will compete for the 800m run title on Sunday after qualifying with a Saturday time of 2:14.67.
 
Rounding out the track events, the Panthers accumulated points in the 3000m steeplechase, as Cailin Kinas moved into second in Milwaukee history with a time of 11:05.72 taking more than three seconds off her previous career best. Alayna Franson for the Panthers also had a top-five finish with a time of 11:12.87.
 
Sunday will be the third and final day of the Horizon League Championship meet and will begin at 8:00 a.m. (CT)