April 8, 2002

CHARLESTON, Ill. - The UWM men's 4x800m relay team broke a seven-year-old record Saturday at the Big Blue Classic Track Invitational Saturday at Eastern Illinois.

The team of Joe Tuttle, BJ Blake, Nick Viall and Cornelius Hill broke the record with a time of 7:34.79. The old mark of 7:38.69 was set by former Panther greats Kelly Kinas, Keith Zeise, Cory Peterson and Tim Kenney in 1995.

The Panther women finished third among 11 scoring teams, while the Panther men finished fourth out of seven scoring teams.

The UWM women finished one-two in the 100 meter hurdles, with Kristy Naef winning the race in 14.87 seconds and teammate Stephanie Kenesie finishing second with a time of 15.41. Kenesie also won a pair of field events, winning both the long jump with an effort of 18'9 3/4" and the triple jump, jumping 37'3 3/4". UWM also won the 4x100 meter relay, besting DePaul by just under three-tenths of a second, finishing in 48.29.

Abby Hurst put together two stellar performances, finishing second in the 1500 meters in 2:18.44 and fourth in the 800 meters with a time of 4:40.12. Kristy Naef finished fourth in 25.96 and Nicole Frey fifth (26.13) in the 200 meters while Katie Seep finished third in the 400 meters with a time of 58.80. Also on the women's side, Jessica Hendree finished third in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:06.37.

The highlighted men's performance came from Ken Hunt, who won the triple jump with a leap of 49'2 1/2" and finished fifth in the long jump, jumping 21'10 3/4". Other men's highlights included a second-place finish by Eric Gresham (49.35) and a fourth-place finish by Adam Hobler in the 400 meters in 49.68 and a third-place finish by Cornelius Hill in the 5000 meters with a time of 14:47.46. Bryan Hassemer finished fourth in the 10,000 meters with a time of 32:08.45, while Jon Manke also took third in the shot put (51'4 1/4") and fourth in the discus with an effort of 160'5".

The Panthers return to action next Saturday, competing at the Western Illinois Invitational.