FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Milwaukee men's track & field team traveled to Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday to compete in the first day of the Horizon League Indoor Championships.
 
After day one, the Panthers sit in second place after accumulating 33 points. Milwaukee trails Youngstown State, who will enter the second day with 83 team points.
 
The morning session began with the heptathlon and Liam Richards, who leads the field with 3014 points through the first four events. In the long jump he moved into 10th on the school's indoor leaderboard reaching a distance of 7.09m. The heptathlon will finish tomorrow with the 60m hurdles, pole vault, and 1000m run.
 
Evan Bartelsen earned himself a podium finish in the pole vault, clearing 4.70m to take second in the event.
 
In the long jump, Anthony Buford got Milwaukee back on the podium with a runner-up finish, notching the sixth best performance in program history with a leap of 7.20m. Buford followed up the performance on the track in the 400m dash, posting a time of 51.22 to put him through to the final round on Sunday.
 
Rounding out the field events, Jeremiah Johnson took fourth in the weight throw with a toss of 16.45m.
 
Jaelyn Reeves-Lile looked dominant on day one of the event, finishing on top of the preliminary rounds in both the 60m (6.74) and 200m (21.88) dashes as he qualifies for the finals on Sunday.
 
Leading the prelims in the 800m run is Lucas Picco at 1:54.44 with Karsten Grundahl at 1:56.62 taking the third spot.
 
Coming away with the third-best prelim mark in the 60m hurdles was Iyimi Fagbamiye, qualifying for the finals after crossing the finish line at 8.11. Joining Fagbamiye in the finals tomorrow will be Nate Taylor (8.45), Ethan Criter (8.79), and Ethan Mitchell (9.60).
 
Taylor will also compete in the finals of the 400m dash after a prelim time of 51.47.
 
The championship meet will conclude tomorrow, starting with the final three events of the heptathlon at 8:00 a.m. (CT). Field events will begin with the high jump at 9:15 a.m. (CT), and finish with the triple jump and shot put. Track events are slated to begin with the mile run tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. (CT) and will be available to view on ESPN+ beginning at 11:55 a.m.