Milwaukee Bound For Purdue's Dave Rankin Invite
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (April 16, 2008) - Coming off a strong showing at last weekend's Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tenn., the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's track and field team returns to action this Saturday at the Dave Rankin Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind. The Panthers had a few athletes compete in Tennessee, but saw a number of standout performances, led by senior Justin Bohler's school-record performance in the decathlon. Sophomore Quinn Mongoven also tied the third-best high jump in school history and the Panthers had five more top-15 finishes on the weekend. Bohler posted strong showings across the board, including a personal-best 14.59 in the 100m hurdles, to tally 6,836 points in the decathlon. He eclipsed Paul McGinley's school mark of 6,799 set in 1996. Bohler was also just 64 points shy of an NCAA provisional score. At the Sea Ray Relays, he took fifth. Mongoven cleared 6-8 3/4 in the high jump to tie for sixth at the event and equal the third-best height in school history, coincidentally achieved exacted 23 years earlier. Senior Darren Cole in the triple jump, junior Sean Jaehnig, sophomore Tyler Bucholz in the 400m and a pair of relays also finished among the top 15 in their events. Bohler is the second Panthers to break a school record over the first three meets of the season. Sophomore Tyler Bucholz opened the outdoor campaign with a time of 47.93 in the 400m to top the previous standard of 48.09.
During the outdoor season he has picked up where the indoor season ended. At the Sea Ray Relays, he ran a time of 48.00 in the 400m, marking his fourth-straight 400m time of 48.00-or-better. He broke the school record in the indoor 400m as the first Panther to run the event under 48 seconds. He then came in under 48.00 in a last chance qualifier before his two outdoor times. Bucholz has also posted the second-best 200m time in school history and ninth-best 100m time as a part of 12 top-10 all-time showings by the team this season. Despite heading into just their fourth meet of the outdoor season, the league championships are fast approaching. The championship portion of the schedule actually gets underway May 3 with the league's multi-event championships, while the remainder of the meet is a week later. Milwaukee appears to be in good shape for the meet, as the Panthers lead the league in 12 events, including the 110m hurdles, javelin and decathlon by Bohler, and the 100m, 200m and 400m by Bucholz. UWM splits up next weekend, as some of the team will head to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Drake Relays (April 24-26). The remainder of the squad will head across town to the Marquette Invitational that Saturday (April 26). |
