MILWAUKEE, Wis. (March 27, 2008) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's track and field team opens the 2008 outdoor season this weekend when it travels to Carbondale, Ill., for the Spring Classic. The Panthers will compete at Southern Illinois' meet Friday and Saturday.

Milwaukee is coming off a second-place finish at the Horizon League indoor championships its last time out, March 1-2, in Kent, Ohio. The finish capped a successful indoor campaign for the Panther women.

Juniors Holly Nearman and Beth Zimmerman, and sophomores Laura Ring, Kelsey Conrad and Erin Havener each won individual titles, while Ring and Conrad formed half of UWM's first-place 4x400m relay.

Nearman won the 5000m for her first league crown, while Zimmerman was victorious in the triple jump, an event she broke the school record (39-9 ¾) in earlier during the season. Ring topped the field in the 800m with the third-fastest time in school history (2:13.89), after earning all-league second-team honors as runner-up in the event both indoors and outdoors as a freshman.

Conrad, meanwhile, just missed out on a school mark in winning the 200m (55.95). The pair teamed with senior Shannon Buttchen, runner-up to Ring in the 800m, and freshman Angie Kaufmann to win the relay title by just 0.01. Kaufmann ran the anchor leg and edged the Youngstown State runner by a head for first place.

Havener continued her dominance in the pole vault, remaining perfect in league competition with her third-straight title. After claiming the indoor and outdoor championships as a freshman, she broke her own league record this season (11-11 ¾).

The top-two finish was the 11th for Milwaukee, accounting for each indoor meet the league as held. The Panthers fell just shy of a third-straight indoor championship.

After the Spring Classic, UWM heads to the Big Blue Classic, April 4-5, in Charleston, Ill. That meet is hosted by Eastern Illinois.