• 2007 Outdoor Top Times/Individual Finishes

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (March 28, 2007) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's track and field team returns to action this weekend, heading across town for the Wisconsin Lutheran Invitational, Saturday, in nearby Wauwatosa.

The meet kicks off at 10:30 a.m. at WLC's Raabe Stadium.

UWM competed at this meet last season after winning 11 events to take top honors last season. Milwaukee finished with 223 points to win the inaugural meet at Raabe Stadium, while Conordia finished second with 119. Katie Slamka, Timeka Walker and Beth Zimmerman each won two events to lead the way.

The Panthers are coming off their outdoor season opener last weekend at the Southern Illinois Invitational, where they took eighth. Junior Amber Curtis broke two school records to lead the way, while freshman Erin Havener took second in the pole vault and Zimmerman third in the triple jump to each post top-three finishes.

Curtis qualified for the NCAA Regionals and smashed the school record in the discus, throwing 158-2 to handily eclipse Anne Vuchichevich's school record of 136-10. She also placed second in the event. In the hammer throw, she once again handily reset the UWM standard with a distance of 139-11 to break the record of 129-3 held by Stephanie Ray. Competing in her first season at Milwaukee, the junior transfer from Nebraska already holds the indoor weight throw mark and is second in the indoor shot put.

Zimmerman got her outdoor season off to the same kind of start as her indoor campaign, coming within two inches of reaching the school record in the triple jump last weekend. She jumped 38-4 3/4 to increase her personal record, which was already second in school history.

And, it looks as if the Panthers' corps of horizontal jumpers could have as successful outdoor season as they did indoors. Freshman Reigna Pierce leapt 37-7 1/4 in the triple jump to take fourth, a leap that ranks fifth in school history. Zimmerman broke the school triple jump records indoors multiple times, while Pierce moved among the school's top five. Sophomore Kicha Cary rounds out the group, briefly holding the indoor triple jump mark this season and now sitting second all-time. She did not compete last weekend.

This weekend's Wisconsin Lutheran Invitational is the first in three events Milwaukee will stay in the state of Wisconsin, despite no home meets on the schedule. April 13-14, the Panthers will head across town for the Marquette Invitational, before closing the regular season out at the Wisconsin Twilight, May 5, in Madison.