MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Jan. 10, 2007) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's track and field team gets the 2007 indoors season underway Saturday, when it travels to the Division I Invitational in Kenosha, Wis. The meet is hosted by Carthage College and will kick off at 11 a.m.

Senior Timeka Walker won both the 55m and 200m as Milwaukee won the Division I Invitational last season. Despite not running any athletes longer than the 400m, UWM scored 155 points for top honors.

Milwaukee will return to action Friday, Jan. 19, at the UW-Whitewater Invitational. The UWW Invite is the second of three-straight meets the Panthers will compete at in the state of Wisconsin to start the season.

Panthers Have Championship Fever After 2006 Indoor Title

Milwaukee has finished second-or-better 18 of last 19 league meets, looking for titles 9 and 10

Since 1997, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's track and field program has finished below second place at a Horizon League championship meet just once, winning eight league titles and taking second 10 times.

Last season, the Panthers got a taste of a championship, winning indoors, and enter 2007 looking to add to their already impressive list of accomplishments.

Head coach Pete Corfeld has a load of talent, experience and youth returning this season, while dealing with the loss of a few key athletes.

Tenia Fisher, Katie Slamka, Stephanie Ray and their combined 13 career league titles have graduated. Fisher was a four-time Horizon League Athlete of the Year, while Slamka routinely competed in a variety of events and won a league heptathlon title. Ray established herself as one of the top pole vaulters in league and school history.

But, senior Timeka Walker, junior Joy VanLaanen and sophomores Jenni Saarinen and Beth Zimmerman are among those returning with their sights set on adding to the UWM trophy case. Each was a high point-scorer at league meets last season and they all figure prominently in the school's top 10 lists for their events. The group also accounted for seven league titles last season and another three all-league second team awards.

Sprints
Walker enters her senior campaign as the school record holder in three of the program's four main sprint categories, sitting first in the indoor 60m and 200m and outdoor 200m but second in the outdoor 100m. She also won three league titles last season, bringing her career total to five.

Junior Shannon Buttchen returns with Walker in the sprint events, while freshmen Kelsey Conrad and Stef Ross will join the fray as well. Conrad took second in the 200m and 400m at the Minnesota state meet as a senior and added a third-place showing in the 100m. Ross redshirted last season after winning a state 100m championship for Bradley Tech High School in Milwaukee.

Middle Distance/Distance
The Panther distance corps is looking good after a standout cross country season where a school-record three runners earned all-league honors. Sophomore Holly Nearman led the group with a seventh-place finish and first team accolades. After redshirting 2005, her first track season was highlighted by a third-place showing in the 10,000m at the league's outdoor meet.

Junior Angie Huebner, who took 12th, and senior Kourtney Nault, who was 13th, earned second team honors in cross country. Huebner returned from an injury to regain her form and finish as the team's second runner at the end of the season. She won the indoor 5000m last season and has scored at the league meet in every distance event she competed over her first two seasons. Nault has emerged as a strong threat in the distance events, taking fifth in the indoor 5000m last season.

Junior Erin Magargee nearly joined the group in cross country all-league honors, taking 15th to miss the second team by one place. Magargee has consistently gotten better, scoring at every meet in the fall and finishing among UWM's top 3 three times.

With the loss of Fisher and Griffin McNulty to graduation, the middle distance was hit hard. But, Corfeld plans to develop new talent in the area. Freshman Laura Ring, coming off her first cross country season, could compete in the shorter distance events for Milwaukee. Ring has 800m experience, holding the Wilmot Union High School record and competing at the state meet in the event.

Hurdles
The hurdles are the first of four areas where Saarinen is expected to be a factor. But, in the case if the hurdles, the incumbent is senior Taryn Cozine, who enjoyed her best season in 2006. She ran the seventh-best 100m hurdle time in school history and took third in the 400m hurdles at the league outdoor meet. Saarinen competed in the 100m hurdles at the outdoor meet and tied Cozine's 100m hurdle time.

Senior Andrea Ziebell also returns, while freshman Rasheedah Helm joins the group after an impressive prep career. She won state titles in her last two years in the 100m hurdles, holds her school's record in the event and competed at the state meet in a handful of other sprint and relay events.

Multi-Events
Saarinen set Milwaukee records in both its indoor and outdoor multi-events. She scored 3459 points in winning a league title in the pentathlon indoors and then scored 4993 points at the Drake Relays in the heptathlon. At the outdoor meet, she did not compete in the heptathlon, but rather scored in all five events she entered, including a school-record long jump of 19-9 ½ to win the event and a second-place finish in the javelin.

This season, the league's multi-events will be held a week before the league championships, so it is possible that Saarinen could compete in the heptathlon and an assortment of other events.

Sophomore Kory Olson also returns in the pentathlon at the indoor meet last season. She also competed in the triple jump, taking fifth, and the long jump. Outdoors, however, she suffered an injury during the multi's at the league meet and took seventh. At full health this season, she could lend more depth to the multi-events and more.

Long Jump/Triple Jump
The Panthers have cornered in the market in the league's long jump competition, winning 17 of the last 21 long jump championships. VanLaanen and Saarinen split titles last season, with VanLaanen taking top honors indoors and Saarinen outdoors. VanLaanen is coming off an injury that cost her the 2006 outdoor season and may redshirt this indoor season, as well.

Zimmerman posted the second-best triple jumps, indoors and outdoors, in school history last season and took second in both events at the both league meets. She teamed with classmate Kicha Cary to give UWM a solid one-two punch in the event. Cary also finished among the school's top 10 in each event and finished fourth at both league meets.

Freshman Reigna Pierce was a three-time state qualifier in the triple jump at Racine Horlick High School and could continue Milwaukee's success with underclass jumpers. As a senior at Horlick, she was second in the state.

High Jump/Pole Vault
VanLaanen headlined the pole vault for the Panthers last season when she met the NCAA provisional height of 12-11 ½ and broke the school record by almost 10 inches. She went on to win the league pole vault crown before suffering an injury at a last chance qualifier.

Sophomore Jes Weyandt and freshman Erin Havener are a pair of young pole vaulters with similar backgrounds. Both won state titles in the pole vault as seniors in high school and were runners up as juniors. Weyandt cleared a career-best 11-5 ¾ outdoors last season and placed fourth at the league meet.

Saarinen placed third in the high jump at both league meets, while also posting the fifth-best indoor and second-best outdoor heights in school history. Her indoor jump actually came during the pentathlon, while her outdoor leap was during the heptathlon at Drake.

Throws
With the addition of three throwers, the Milwaukee women could be their deepest in this area in a while. Amber Curtis, competing as a junior, is in her first season with UWM after transferring from Nebraska. Freshmen Jaime Woods and Ashley Zander also join a program that has not competed a female thrower outside of the javelin since the 2003 outdoor meet.

At Brodhead High School in Wisconsin, she won four state titles in the discus and was a two-time state shot put champion. She still holds the state division 2 discus record. At Nebraska, Curtis competed both years at the regionals, posting top 20 finishes in the discus both times.

Woods competed at state five times over the shot put and discus events, taking seventh in the shot put as a senior. Zander, meanwhile, holds school records in both the shot and discus events at Bonduel High School in northeast Wisconsin.