ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Milwaukee men's track & field team competed in the final day of the Horizon League Outdoor Championships hosted by Oakland Sunday.
 
The Panthers took home third place, earning 121.5 points. Youngstown State secured the title with 264 points, while Purdue Fort Wayne just edged out Milwaukee for second, accumulating 129.5 points.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of our team for how they closed out the championships today," said head coach Andrew Basler. "On the men's side, we had some work to do today to get up into trophy contention at second place."
 
"Our men's triple jumpers had a big day," added Basler. "Bishop missed getting his second career Horizon League title by 1cm. Our men's 400-meter runners got a lot of team points, headlined by Ty's meet record in the 400m. In the end, Purdue Fort Wayne did what they needed to secure that runner-up trophy."
 
After an impressive weekend, Ty Bauschelt was honored as Men's Freshman of the Year/Running, while Josh Cygan received the Men's Championship Outstanding Performer/Field award.
 
Bauschelt had a monster third day at the Championships, winning the 400-meter dash with a Championships record and program record time of 46.53. Zac Schmidt also turned in a personal-best outing in the event, finishing runner-up with a time of 47.16. His mark ranks sixth in the program history for the event. Anthony Buford rounded out the 400-meter finals appearances for the Black & Gold, crossing the line fifth (47.97).
 
The team of Buford, Karsten Grundahl, Schmidt, and Bauschelt took home the 4x400-meter title after crossing the line in 3:12.81.
 
In the 200-meter dash, Bauschelt added a runner-up finish in the event, clocking a time of 21.72.
 
The Panthers went 2,3,4 in the triple jump, with Bishop Bufford ending as the top team finisher. He secured second place, jumping a career-best 14.72 meters. Tyler Dahlie also took a spot on the podium, earning third with a 14.41-meter leap. Kyril Griffin was right behind Dahlie, soaring over 14.26 meters for fourth.
 
Josh Cygan continued his field event dominance, ending as the runner-up in the hammer throw. The sophomore threw 52.24 meters.
 
Clearing 4.50 meters in the pole vault was Bradyn Thomas, who nabbed fourth-place in the event. Trevor Boyer also competed in the event, jumping 4.10 meters.
 
In the 110-meter hurdles, Brendan Vlasak ran a personal-best time of 14.53 to cross the line fifth. Securing seventh in the 400-meter hurdles was Ethan Criter, who ran a 58.03.
 
Wade Duffek ran a personal-best time of 1:53.48 in the 800-meter finals, finishing seventh.
 
The top Milwaukee finisher in the 5000-meter run was Zach Moss who clocked a time of 15:30.74.
 
Mason Weaver competed in the finals of the 100-meter dash, crossing the line in 11.36.
 
"I challenged the team on Thursday night to go into this weekend without leaving anything undone," said Basler. "Not their effort. Not their support of each other. Not their focus. They did a great job leaving everything out there for each other."
 
Basler concluded by saying, "I want to acknowledge my coaching staff… Coaches Schultz, Hatch, Howard, Schmidt, Rogalski, Campbell, and Johnson. They do an amazing job working with our team and mentoring them. We will now turn our attention to growing the group of athletes who already achieved marks that will get them to the NCAA West Prelims."
 
UP NEXT
 
The Panthers look ahead to the UW-La Crosse Final Qualifier hosted at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex on Thursday, May 14.