TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Milwaukee track & field teams competed in the first day of the Gibson Invitational hosted by Indiana State Thursday.
 
Anna Szepieniec, Kallie Volk, and Kara Meeteer represented the Panthers in the heptathlon, while Liam Richards competed unattached in the decathlon.
 
"Day one of the combined events had a lot of positives," said head coach Andrew Basler. "With Kara competing in her first heptathlon, and Kallie and Anna doubling back after their heptathlon last weekend, they all had highlight moments in the 100-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash."
 
With three events remaining, Szepieniec currently holds the runner-up spot in the heptathlon, totaling 3135 points. In the 200-meter dash, she finished second with a career-best time of 24.11. She also found success in the 100-meter hurdles, where she clocked a time of 13.84, earning fourth. She also shined in the shot put (10.38 meters) and the high jump (1.49 meters).
 
"Anna ran a season best time in the 100H and a new lifetime best of 24.11 in the 200m," said Basler. "Kallie also ran a season best in the 100H and a lifetime best in the 200m."
 
Volk currently sits eighth on the heptathlon leaderboard with 2877 points, and her first day of action was highlighted by a fourth-place high jump effort. In the event, she cleared an impressive 1.55 meters. Her next best outing came in the 200-meter dash, where she crossed the line eighth with a career-best time of 25.72. Volk also performed well in the shot put (9.83 meters) and 100-meter hurdles (14.87).
 
"Kara ran a personal best in the 100-meter hurdles and a college best in the 200-meter dash," added Basler.
 
Competing in her first heptathlon in a Panther uniform is Meeteer, who cracked the top-20 after the first day of action. She currently has 2312 points, with her best finish coming from the long jump. In the event, she finished ninth with a 1.52-meter leap. She also competed in the 200-meter dash (27.13), shot put (8.53 meters), and 100-meter hurdles (17.58).
 
"Competing unattached, redshirt junior Liam is having a weekend after day one of the decathlon," said Basler. "Liam had personal bests in three events, and with a solid day two, could be looking at a final score of 7,500-7,600 points."
 
Richards holds the top spot on the decathlon leaderboard through five events with 3918 points. He finished in the top-five of every event, with his top performance coming in the long jump. He finished with the best leap at the meet, a mark of 7.07 meters. In the shot put, he finished runner-up with his career-best 13.20-meter toss. Richards also finished third in the 100-meter dash (10.80) (PR), fourth in the high jump (1.87 meters), and fifth in the 400-meter run (49.96) (PR).
 
"With the Phil Esten meet at UW-La Crosse getting moved up a day to today, our planned 10k runners will instead eye next weekend to run their 10k races," Basler concluded.
 
UP NEXT
 
Milwaukee looks ahead to day two of the Gibson Invite hosted by Indiana State at the Gibson Track & Field Complex Friday. The first event will kick off at 8:30 a.m. CT.