Panthers Find Positives at Northern Iowa ClassicFeb. 7, 2004
CEDAR FALLS - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men and women's track and field headed for the Northern Iowa Classic on Saturday afternoon looking for solid efforts and left with numerous top-10 finishes on the day. Throughout the day the Panther men showed that they have a mid-distance and distance group that is going to give it their all throughout every meet. In the 600-meter run, Gabe Wagoner finished third (1:21.75), Jeremy Majors placed fourth (1:21.92) and Elliot Enright finished sixth (1:22.25). Nick Bruskewitz paced the way for the Panthers in the 800-meter run with a second-place finish (1:57.45). Freshman sensation Justin Gorman (2:29.81), Adam Swanson (2:31.69) and Andy Kivioja (2:33.07) ran tough in the 1,000-meter run by placing second, fourth and seventh. Rounding out the top distance performances, Nate Weiland (8:48.70), Ben Uphoff (8:50.28) and Bryan Hassemer (8:53.95) made sure the 3,000-meter run was covered by placing second, third and fourth.
Other notable performances on the day came from Nick Gretz, Nick Wichert, Nick Davis and Kyle Huebner. Gretz and Wichert placed fifth and sixth for UWM in the weight throw. Gretz would later add a fifth-place finish in the shot put. Nick Davis placed fifth in the high jump and Kyle Huebner finished right behind Davis in sixth-place. Huebner closed out his day by placing sixth in the pole vault.
The Panther women were highlighted with performances by Kalin Konop, Alison Schnelle, Iris Perez and Katie Seep. Konop placed third for the Panthers in the triple jump (35-4.00), Schnelle recorded a third-place finish in the high jump (4-11.75) and Perez scored the highest placing in the running events with a second-place finish in the 200-meter dash (25.61). Katie Seep paced the way for UWM in the 800-meter run with a fourth-place finish (2:20.27). Even though the Panther women did not have a bevy of top finishes, there were many solid efforts to note. Schnelle added a fifth-place finish in the triple jump behind Konop and Stephanie Ray added a sixth-place finish. Ray also finished sixth in the pole vault. On the running side of things, Timeka Walker (7.82) placed sixth in the 60-meter dash while Sara Vanderloop (8.00) and Perez (8.00) tied for eighth. Walker and VanderLoop also placed fifth and eighth, respectively, in the 200-meter dash. Teresa Braunreiter and Amber Perri added a fifth and sixth-place finish in the 400-meter run during the competition. In the distance events, Griffin McNulty and Katie Anderson placed fifth and sixth in the 1,000-meter run while Christine Wampach and Kourtney Nault finished fourth and sixth in the 3,000-meter run. "We're still trying to build our squad up," Panther coach Pete Corfeld said. "Athletes like Nick Gretz, Nick Wichert, Griffin McNulty and Katie Seep all set personal best times today which should leave them with a positive feeling of just how good they can become. We didn't have a lot of top finishes, but we had some performances to be proud of and need to use meets like this as a learning experience." The Panthers will hit the road again on Feb. 13-14 when they will split up and send athletes to compete at the Iowa State Cyclone Classic in Aimes, Iowa and at the Pepsi Challenge in Kenosha. |
