YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championships ended on Sunday afternoon, as the Milwaukee women's track & field team finished second in the final team standings at the meet hosted by Youngstown State.
 
Improving upon last spring's third place finish, Milwaukee finished just 14 points shy of first place in the team's closest finish for a team title since 2015. During that season eight years ago, the Panthers were just eight points shy of eventual champion Youngstown State.
 
This year Milwaukee accumulated 189.25 points, which was the team's highest point total since winning the championship in 2010. This year, the Panthers trailed host Youngstown State, who finished the three-day affair with 203.25 team points.
 
"While we fell short of the team goal of bringing home a championship, I would say this has been the most fun championship that I have had the opportunity to coach at while at Milwaukee," said head coach Andrew Basler.
 
"Our student-athletes did an amazing job and just fed off of each other and really put themselves in a position to do well," Basler added. "In track & field there's lots of stuff out of our control, and all we can do is control the effort that we put in and how we react when things don't go well. Our team is good at being present in the moment in supporting each other, and I'm proud of them."
 
Basler continued, "I want to shout out the assistant coaches, without them the success of this team wouldn't be where it's at. They do an amazing job and care about our student-athletes the right way."
 
"We're on the cusp of something special here at Milwaukee and I think the team felt it this weekend more than any other weekend we competed," Basler concluded. "I think there is going to be a lot of motivation going into the offseason, and we're excited about what's going to happen next year."
 
Milwaukee won one event on the final day of the championships as it was Olivia VanZeeland to win gold in the high jump at her first Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championship meet.
 
The Panthers had their share of top-three podium finishers as well with Cloey Fare taking second in the 100m hurdles and Dominique Thomas finishing as runner-up in the 100m dash. Annie Guerrero was third in the high jump while Adaline Powell was also third in the triple jump. On the track, Anelise Egge was third in the 800m, while Leah Handshoe took bronze in the 400m hurdles.
 
Following the final events on Sunday, the team was with one award as the Panther coaching staff, led by Andrew Basler was awarded as Co-Coach of the Year, sharing the title with Youngstown State's head coach in both men's & women's track & field.
 
Day 3 Summary
VanZeeland notched the win in the high jump for her third individual win of the spring season, as she tied her career-best mark at 1.68 meters. Guerrero took third in the event as she also cleared 1.68 meters. Nadia Vo was in a four-way split for eighth place in the event at 1.55 meters.
 
Milwaukee also had three finishers in the top-six in the triple jump as Powell was third with a leap of 12.11 meters, while Morgan Pilate was fourth at 11.62 meters and Olivia Busch was sixth at 11.41 meters.
 
Following the morning's field events track events kicked off with the 4x100m relay and as the Panther foursome of Vanessa Laundrie, Isabel Roloff, Thomas and Maddy Troy recorded the best time in the event for Milwaukee since 2010 with a time of 46.72.
 
The mark is now the fourth best 4x100m relay mark in program history, with the 2010 time of 45.98 still the standard.
 
Thomas continued her day individually and put together a second-place finish with eight key team points in the 100m dash as she crossed the line with a time of 11.82. Thomas also added a personal-best mark and took over fourth in Panther history in the 200m dash with a time of 24.26, eclipsing her preliminary mark of 24.30.
 
Fare also took second for the Panthers with a 14.05-second effort in the 100m hurdles and was just one one-hundredth of a second shy of tying her career-best set in the prelims on Saturday. Brooke Crosby was not far off the pace as she took fourth in the event with a time of 14.27.
 
Crosby alongside Handshoe were both featured in the 400m hurdles, with Handshoe leading the Milwaukee duo with a third-place finish at 1:02.48, a new career-best and the eighth-best time in program history. Crosby was seventh with a time of 1:03.90 in a closely contested event from first through eighth position.
 
Egge recorded a third-place mark in the 800m run with a personal-best time of 2:13.80, the mark also places her eighth in Milwaukee program history in the event.
 
Handshoe added a fifth-place finish in the 400m dash with a time of 56.93, while Milwaukee had two finish in the top-10 in the 5000m run as Meg Swietlik was eighth at 17:39.28 and Emily Burns was 10th at 17:57.27.
 
The day on the track concluded in the rain as the 4x400m relay took place with Milwaukee finishing in fourth place at 3:53.61. The Panther team was comprised of Katie Burns, Egge, Handshoe and Kortnie Volk.
 
Up Next
With several student-athletes close to qualification for the NCAA West preliminary rounds, Milwaukee is likely to add a 'Last Chance' Meet next weekend. While a decision has not been made, fans are encouraged to check back to MKEPanthers.com for the latest schedule updates.