Results

MADISON, Wis. (Jan. 30, 2010) - Three Panthers posted top-10 marks in school history to highlight action on the second day of the Wisconsin Elite Invitational for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's track and field team Saturday.

Milwaukee finished the meet with 130 points to take fourth at the meet. Host Wisconsin scored 242 points for first place, while Purdue was second with 190 and Indiana State third with 130. South Dakota rounded out the field in fifth with 97 points.

"We made some more progress this weekend," UWM head coach Pete Corfeld said. "This time of year, you are going to go through ups and downs, peaks and valleys. We saw some good stuff this weekend and we will keep working at it and get our team into their routines."

Freshman Chia Okonkwo posted the fourth-best 60m hurdles time in school history in the preliminaries, while taking sixth in the event finals. She ran a prelim time of 8.98, while finishing in 9.01 in the finals. Fellow frosh Flo Mafany, who is second in school history (8.93), placed fourth in the event with a time of 8.96. Mafany also competed in the 600m, taking sixth in 1:39.68.

Sophomore Courtney Fisher continued her strong start to the season with a personal-best height of 11-6 3/4 in the pole vault. She took sixth in the event and moved into fifth place in school history. Freshmen Chantel McConville and Sarah Finer also finished in the top 10 with a final height of 10-8 3/4. McConville tied for seventh and Finer placed ninth based on jumps.

In the 200m, sophomore Katie Duchow ran Milwaukee's sixth-fastest time ever, finishing fourth with a time of 25.64. She also competed in the 60m, finishing fifth in 7.90.

The Panthers had top-five finishers in three other track events and a pair of top-10 showings in the 3000m. Senior Kesley Conrad took fifth in the 400m with a time of 58.63, narrowly edging junior Angie Kaufmann in sixth in 58.66. In the 800m, sophomore Erika Hanson was also fifth, running a time of 2:20.59, as classmate Kristi Schuette ran 2:22.55 for ninth. Mafany, Conrad, Kaufmann and sophomore Shelby Schaal then combined on a time of 3:58.17 in taking fourth in the 4x400m relay.

Freshman Elise Sigg was also seventh in the 3000m, just ahead of senior Abbie Zaspel in eighth. Sigg ran 10:27.23 to Zaspel's time of 10:31.70. UWM's top-10 track finishes also included junior Tanaiya Fisher running 5:20.46 for ninth in the mile.

In the field events, Milwaukee had a pair of top-10 finishers in the high and triple jumps and single top-10's in the long jump and each throwing event. Freshman Samia Taylor took sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 38-11 1/2. Freshman Erika Suchla was eighth at 36-7 1/2. In the high jump, senior Jenni Parish (nee Saarinen) and sophomore Ashlee Mongoven each cleared 5-1, with Parish tying for seventh and Mongoven placing ninth based on jumps.

Senior Beth Zimmerman took eighth in the long jump with a jump of 17-11. Senior Jamie Woods, then, was eighth in the shot put and ninth in the weight throw. She threw a personal-best 44-0 in the shot put and 52-1 in the weight throw.

Next weekend, Milwaukee returns to action, heading to South Bend, Ind., for Notre Dame's Mayo Invite, Feb. 5-6.