Panthers Close Out Regular Season At Wisconsin Twilight
Butler Twilight (Indianapolis, Ind.) • May 4-5 Wisconsin Twilight (Madison, Wis.) • May 5 MILWAUKEE, Wis. (May 2, 2007) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's track and field will close out its regular season and get a jump on the Horizon League Championships this weekend. The bulk of the team will head to Madison, Wis., Saturday for the Wisconsin Twilight in a final tune-up for the league meet the following weekend. Sophomore Jenni Saarinen and freshman Emily Budde, however, will head to Indianapolis, Ind., for the Butler Twilight. The Horizon League will run it's multi-events for the league championships at the meet. Saarinen has not competed in the heptathlon at the league's outdoor meet before, but has won the last two indoor pentathlon titles. Budde will be competing in her first collegiate multi-event. Milwaukee is coming off a busy weekend in Iowa, with some of the team competing at the Kip Janvrin Simpson College Open and the rest at the Drake Relays. Sophomore Beth Zimmerman highlighted the weekend, breaking her own school triple jump record to win the event and took second in the long jump. She leapt 39-6 ½ in the triple jump to trump her previous standard of 38-11. Meanwhile, freshman Reigna Pierce took third in the event with the third-longest triple jump in school history (38-7). At the Drake Relays, the sprint medley relay set a school record and sophomore Holly Nearman took fifth in the 10,000m to lead the way. Senior Timeka Walker, sophomore Shannon Buttchen and freshmen Laura Ring and Kelsey Conrad combined on a time of 4:03.10 to place 17th in the sprint medley. The school standard had been 4:03.91, set at this same meet in 2005.
Nearman has thrived at the Panthers' high-profile meets of late, winning the 5000m at the Kansas Relays and taking fifth in the 10,000m at the Drake Relays. Her time of 17:31.43 in winning the 5k is the fifth-best in school history, while her 10,000m time of 36:34.71 is fourth all-time. Milwaukee is competing at the Wisconsin Twilight for the third-straight year. Tenia Fisher headlined the meet, breaking the school 400m record. Zimmerman won the long jump and took third in the triple jump, finishing with the second-longest triple jump in school history at the time. The Panthers are in action next at the Horizon League Championships, May 10-11, in Indianapolis. UWM is the defending indoor league champion and will be in search for its first outdoor title since 2003. |
