May 6, 2012

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Wauwatosa, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's track & field team won two events on the day and fell just short to take second in a rain-shortened meet at the Horizon League Outdoor Championships at Wisconsin Lutheran College's Raabe Stadium Sunday.

Milwaukee finished in second place with 129 points. Youngstown State won the meet with 172 points. Loyola came in third at 94, Wright State was fourth at 65 and Butler was fifth with 58. UIC (52), Detroit (31) and Valparaiso (19) round out the scoring.

After a four-hour rain delay to start the meet, the day's final event of the 4x400m relay was cancelled due to further severe weather.

"We're never happy when we don't win, but I'm very proud of how our women competed this weekend," Milwaukee head coach Pete Corfeld said. "We knew coming in Youngstown State was going to be a tough challenger and hats off to them for a great meet. In the end we came up just a bit short but we're very proud of how our women performed."

Milwaukee started the day in record-breaking fashion. Junior Chiamaka Okonkwo came in third in the 100m hurdles in 14.07 with Shelby Schaal right behind in fourth at 14.19. Those times now stand second and third in UWM history. Freshman Chelsea Maxey also had an outstanding run with a time of 14.69, which now is tied for ninth in school history.

In the 400m hurdles, Maxey was Milwaukee's top finisher, crossing the line at 1:04.92 for third. Freshman Erin McCauley was fourth with a season-best time of 1:06.26.

Lauren Grant had a memorable run in the 400m, winning the event with a time of 56.50, improving on her sixth-place standing in school history. Senior Erika Hanson was right behind and took silver with a season-best time of 57.21. Grant also ran in the 200m, taking ninth with a season-best time of 25.70 for ninth overall.

Junior Samia Taylor easily won the triple jump with a leap of 40-9 (12.42m), nearly a foot in front of the next finisher. Classmate Erika Suchla also finished on the podium, taking third with a season-best mark of 38-6 1/2 (11.74m).

After breaking the school record in the heptathlon high jump, senior Laura Hamel just missed the top spot in the open competition of the event with a leap of 5-6 (1.68m). Freshman Ashley Brusveen took fourth after clearing 5-2 1/4 (1.58m) and junior Moriah Myles just missed scoring, taking seventh with a height of 5-0 1/4 (1.53m).

Myles also led the way for the Panthers in shot put, taking fifth with a heave of 41-2 1/4 (12.55m). Sophomore Nancy Harmon finished fourth in discus with a season-best toss of 126-1 (38.43m), while junior Brittany Alsum was eighth at 37.98m and Myles posted a season-best mark of 37.25m.

Freshman Sammy Woller just missed the podium in the 1500 to lead five Panthers who all posted season-best times in the event. Woller finished in 4:47.68 for ninth, while Emily Hamilton (4:53.80), Annette Lemanski (5:06.61), Carissa Schneiter (5:09.72) and Shannon Brown (5:30.42) all did well for Milwaukee.

In the day's opening relay, UWM finished with a time of 49.94 despite senior Calanetta Burrows racing through injury.

Milwaukee will compete at the Cardinal Twilight in Louisville, Ky. this Friday as part of an NCAA qualifying meet.