Women's Track and Field Finishes Second At League ChampionshipsMay 7, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS - Sometimes streaks come to an end. A valiant effort by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's track and field team fell just short of winning their fifth-straight championship as the Panthers moved from fifth in the 2004 Horizon League Track and Field Championships to finish in second with 113 team points. Moving from fifth to second-place in the track and field team standings is a tough task to handle, but gritty performances by several key athletes provided the necessary boost to make the huge jump. Katie Slamka and Tenia Fisher were just two of athletes who led the way for UWM Friday afternoon. Slamka, who has turned into one of the stronger hurdlers in the league, claimed first in the 400-meter hurdles by setting a league and personal-record with her time of 1:01.81. Slamka also added a second-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.88 and an eighth-place finish in the high jump by clearing a height of 4' 9.75". Fisher posted a second-place finish in the 400-meter run by notching a time of 56.69. The Panthers also placed second and third in the 400 and 1600-meter relay events with times of 47.96 and 3:49.99. "Katie Slamka is a real competitor," head coach Pete Corfeld said. "She definitely is one of those people that loves to win and fights to win. She puts everything out there for us and has always been willing to do more than her fair share of events."
Timeka Walker, Katie Seep, Kalin Konop and Jodi Hrdina also came through with strong finishes during the competition. All three added to the cause by registering third-place finishes in the 100-meter dash, 800-meter run and the triple jump. Walker completed the 100-meter dash in a time of 12.75 while Seep tallied a time of 2:14.35 in the 800-meter run. Konop added a leap of 36' 2" in the triple jump. Walker also came through with a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter dash, completing the event in a time of 26.02. Hrdina, who finished second in the javelin on Thursday night, claimed third in the 400-meter hurdles, running a time of 1:03.26, and fourth in the 100-meter hurdles, recording a time of 15.43.
The Panthers weren't done and many other athletes tried to help push Milwaukee to the top of the pack. Iris Perez, Taryn Cozine, Stephanie Ray, Sara Vanderloop and Andrea Ziebell all contributed encouraging results. Perez scored two fourth-place finishes by running the 100-meter dash in a time of 12.84 and the 200-meter dash in a time of 25.13. Cozine claimed fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:04.72 while Ray, VanderLoop and Ziebell contributed by placing fifth in the triple jump, 100-meter dash and the 400-meter hurdles. Ray had a leap of 35' 4.5" in the triple jump, VanderLoop recorded a time of 12.93 in the 100-meter dash and Ziebell was fifth with a time of 1:06.26 in the 400-meter hurdles. In other strong performances, Katie Anderson and Griffin McNulty claimed sixth and seventh in the 800-meter run. Marcia Roundtree and Teresa Braunreiter claimed sixth in the 100-meter dash and 400-meter run. Allison Schnelle posted a seventh-place finish in the triple jump and Christine Wampach and Anderson finished seventh and eighth in the 1500-meter run. Ziebell and Cozine placed eighth and ninth in the 100-meter hurdles. "I think the women took the queue from the men and gave it a good shot to move up in the team standings," Corfeld said. "You have to limit your mistakes and every day is different. Sometimes things don't work out as planned, but they still found a way to push through it." The Panthers will be sending winners from the league championship onto the NCAA Regional competition on May 28. However, UWM will be sending some athletes to North Central College, on May 14, to compete in the Last Chance Qualifier with hopes of moving on to the regionals. |
