Jan. 21, 2004

MILWAUKEE - As the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's track and field program opened up the 2004 indoor season, head coach Pete Corfeld was looking for athletes that would have strong individual efforts to help maintain the championship tradition that has become synonymous with UW-Milwaukee track and field. Katie Slamka answered that calling in the season opener by scoring two first-place and two second-place finishes throughout the course of the past weekend. Slamka's efforts have been rewarded as she has been named Horizon League Athlete of the Week.

Slamka, a native of Racine, opened up her weekend by tying for first-place in the high jump at the UWM Developmental Meet on Friday, Jan. 16. The sophomore jumped a height of 5'2", good for a first-place tie. Slamka returned on Saturday afternoon at the Division I Invitational to lead off for UWM's winning mile relay team that recorded a time of 4:01.59. Slamka also paced herself to a second-place finish in the 400-meter dash (59.40) and a second-place finish in the 55 high hurdles by improving on her preliminary time of 8.81 by running a time of 8.57 in the finals.

"Katie has a high work ethic," head coach Pete Corfeld said. "It's great to see her win the award so early in the season because she is well deserving of it. She's a consistent runner and should only get stronger as the year goes on."

This is the first time that the sophomore has won the award during her career at UWM. Slamka and the rest of the Panther track and field program will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 24 when they compete at the University of Chicago Invitational. The meet is set to begin at 11:30 a.m.