Jan. 18, 2012

MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's and women's track and field teams will host Marquette Friday in the annual indoor dual meet between the two Division I teams in the city.

The meet gets underway with field events at 6 p.m. at the Klotsche Center with track events to follow.

Series History
Friday will be the third indoor dual meet, and the fifth overall, since Milwaukee and Marquette started competing annually. The Panther men and women both won the indoor head-to-head match up with the Golden Eagles last season. Overall, UWM's women's team is 4-1 and the Marquette men are 3-1 since the tradition started. The women from MU also won the inaugural outdoor meet in 2009.

A Lot In Common
Marquette head coach Bert Rogers competed collegiately for Pete Corfeld at Milwaukee from 1996-99. He was a league champion in the indoor 200m for the Panthers, earned three all-league second-team awards and is in the top 10 of the 400m both indoors and outdoors. He also worked in the UWM athletic department following his collegiate career.

Assisting Rogers is former UWM standout Nick Davis (2001-04). Davis won 10 league titles in a Panther uniform and held the school and league record in the javelin until last season. He works an associate lecturer at Milwaukee in the kinesiology department.

Switching sides, former Golden Eagle Jamie Roth now helps coach the Panthers after just wrapping up her collegiate career in 2011. While at Marquette, Roth competed in throwing events and her name now stands in the top-five in both weight throw and hammer throw.

To add further intrigue, current Panther Lauren Grant's sister Stephanie runs track for Marquette.

Last Time Out
Milwaukee won twelve events over the men's and women's teams despite not competing in any distance events to get the 2012 season off to a fantastic start at the Carthage Invitational in Kenosha, Wis. Durell Busby won the 55m hurdles in school-record fashion, Washington Farrington took first in the 55m dash and freshman Aaron Dillon won the triple jump in his first-ever collegiate meet to represent the UWM men.

On the women's side, Chiamaka Okonkwo also broke the school record in the 55m hurdles, while Simbi Laaro (55m), Lauren Grant (400m), and the 4x400m relay team also took first on the day in track. In field events, Laura Hamel (high jump), Courtney Fisher (pole vault), Samia Taylor (triple jump), Moriah Myles (shot put) and Nancy Harmon (weight throw) also claimed the top spots in their respective events.

Very Early Success
Durell Busby and Chiamaka Okonkwo kicked the 2012 season off with a bang, as both broke the school indoor records in the 55m hurdles. Busby broke Cedric McMillian's 18-year-old record of 7.58 by crossing the line at 7.50. Ironically, Okonkwo broke the same record on the women's side, which also was set back in 1994 by Nicole Northrop. Okonkwo shattered the previous mark and set the new standard at an impressive 8.14 seconds.

In what has seemingly become routine, junior Samia Taylor also broke the school record in triple jump, besting her own previous mark of 40-10 1/4 with a jump of 41-7 1/4 this past weekend.

Athletes of the Week
Two Panthers that won their events were named Horizon League Athletes of the Week this week. Freshman Aaron Dillon was named the Men's Field Athlete of the Week for his winning jump of 47-7 3/4 in the triple jump. That mark also ties the Milwaukee-native for fifth all-time in Panther history in just his first collegiate competition.

Also honored by the league, Moriah Myles was named the Women's Field Athlete of the Week. The junior had an impressive showing in throw events on the weekend, taking first in shot put with a mark of 42-8 3/4, while also coming in second in weight throw (50-4 3/4). Both distances now stand in the top-10 all-time in UWM history.

Coming Up Next
The Panthers head to Cedar Falls, Iowa for the Jack Jennett Invitational next weekend, Jan. 27-28.