MILWAUKEE, Wis. (March 3, 2011) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee track and field teams will send seven athletes to the NCAA Qualifier, hosted by Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, Saturday.

The Panthers will be at the meet, looking to improve their national standing and shoot for a place in the NCAA Championships, March 11-12, in College Station, Texas.

Making the trip to Ames will be Durell Busby, Ben Crogan, Garrett Vetesnik and Nick Hughes from the men's team. The women will send three to the meet in Reigna Pierce, Samia Taylor and Erin Havener.

Milwaukee is coming off Horizon League Indoor Championships on both the men's and women's side last weekend. For the Panther men, it was their eighth-straight indoor title and 15th-straight crown overall. The women won a third-straight indoor championship and fifth in six years.

Busby is coming off a successfully defended his league 60m hurdles title last weekend, breaking the league record twice and his own school record once at the meet. He lowered his school standard from 8.03 to 7.96 in the finals. He ran 8.05 in the preliminaries to break the league record, before lowering it again in the finals. He has eclipsed the school record in the event three times this season.

Crogan is expected to compete in the pole vault alongside Garrett Vetesnik. Crogan has won back-to-back league titles in the event and broke his own school record this season, clearing 16-8 3/4 at two different meets. Vetesnik is second in school history with a height of 16-0 3/4. He was third at the league meet last weekend.

Hughes will head to Iowa to compete in the high jump. He also won a league title last weekend, being named the Horizon League Field Newcomer of the Year in the process. His best height this season is 6-8 3/4, which is fifth in school history.

Pierce was named the League Outstanding Field Performer at the league meet, setting personal records in both the long and triple jump. She is expected to compete in the long jump at ISU, an event she broke a school and league record in last weekend (19-6 1/2) on her way to a championship in the event. She also took second in the triple jump with a personal-best 40-6.

Taylor edged Pierce for the league triple jump crown with a jump of 40-6 1/2. She also broke a school record in her event, clearing 40-10 1/4, against Marquette in January.

Rounding out the competitors will be six-time league pole vault champion Havener. She took second at last weekend's league meet and has cleared 12-1 1/2 this season.