Panthers Show Strong At Purdue's Dave Rankin Invite

Darren Cole

Milwaukee posts five top-two finishes on the day, including two wins

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (April 19, 2008) - Senior Darren Cole qualified for the NCAA Regionals in the triple to pace the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's track and field team at the Dave Rankin Invitational Saturday at Purdue.

Cole eclipsed the NCAA regional qualifying standard of 49-2 1/2 with his personal-best leap of 49-10 1/2. Sophomore Josh Zill also finished the in the top five of the event, taking fifth at 46-10 1/2. Cole also ran with the first-place 4x100m relay. The quartet ran a time of 40.81, the second-best time in school history.

"Today was pretty good meet for us," Milwaukee head coach Pete Corfeld said. "Darren was our first regional qualifier of the year and we had quite a few (personal-bests). I'm more happy about this trip, especially after our trip to Tennessee. We did not get as many results as we would like liked (due to the rain). But, today we got back out there and really got back on track."

UWM's other relay, the 4x400m, also finished in the top five, taking third in 3:21.44.

Junior Adam Schleis added two second-place finishes of his own and sophomore Isaiah Adams also posted a runner-up finish in the 400m. Schleis leapt 23-0 1/2 in taking second in the long jump and ran a time of 14.46 in the 110m hurdles, just 0.01 seconds off his own school record in the event. Adams, meanwhile, ran a time of 48.39 to finish second in his event.

Zill finished among the top five in both events alongside Schleis, taking fourth in the 110m hurdles with a personal-best time of 14.97--seventh-best in school history. He also jumped 21-8 in the long jump for fifth place.

Milwaukee had a pair of athletes tie for third in the pole vault as part of five more third-place finishers on the day. Juniors Sean Jaehnig and Adam Podd each cleared 14-1 1/4 for third in the pole vault. Senior Larry Ehrhorn also threw 51-7 3/d for a third-place showing in the shot put.

Juniors Eric Pitt in the 3000m steeplechase and Patrick Casey in the 400m hurdles also took third place. Pitt ran a time of 9:55.46 and Casey crossed the line in 54.88.

UWM splits up for a pair of meets next. Some of the team will head to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Drake Relays. The remainder of the squad will travel across town to compete at the Marquette Invitational.