MILWAUKEE, Wis. (April 7, 2011) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee track and field teams return to action this weekend, heading to the Lee Calhoun Invitational Friday and Saturday in Macomb, Ill.

Hosted by Western Illinois, the meet gets underway at 3 p.m. Friday with the start of field events. The meet continues through Saturday with the second day kicking off at 11 a.m. Iowa, Bradley, Illinois State and the host Leathernecks are among the other teams expected to be competing.

Last Time Out
Milwaukee competed at the non-scoring Big Blue Classic last Thursday through Saturday in Charleston, Ill. It was the team's first meet of the season after the cancellation of the Cougar Invitational a week prior.

Freshman Highlights
Strong freshman debuts highlighted the men's team performances. Competing in his first collegiate outdoor meet, Durell Busby ran 14.58 in the preliminaries of the 110m hurdles for the third-best time in school history. He followed that up by winning the event with a school-record time of 14.24 in the finals. Scott Erickson also posted a pair of top-three showings, taking second in the discus (167-11) and third in the shot put (49-5 3/4). He cracked the top-10 in school history in both events, now sitting sixth in the discus and ninth in the shot put. Another rookie, Nick Hughes, also posted a runner-up finish in the high jump.

Don't Forget The Women
Shelby Schaal and Samia Taylor each won events for the women's side. Schaal scored 4,626 points for a heptathlon win and the fourth-best score in school history. Taylor leapt 40-0 1/2 to top the field in the triple jump. The event also featured a personal record by Erika Suchla, who was runner-up to Taylor. She jumped 39-3 to move up to fourth in school history. In the long jump, Reigna Pierce went 19-0 to slide up to eighth in school history and take second. Chiamaka Okonkwo also ran a PR, taking second in the 100m hurdles in 14.24. She was already second in school history in the event.

Brittany Alsum moved up to second in school history in the discus with her throw of 144-6. Meanwhile Nancy Harmon cracked the hammer throw top-10 in her first outdoor meet, throwing 149-0 for third all-time.

Off On The Right Foot
Taylor was named the Horizon League Field Athlete of the Week this week for the third time in 2011 and the sixth time in her career. She has now won the award after the first meet of the season three times in her brief career. As a freshman in 2010, she picked up the award after her first collegiate meet. Then, to start the 2011 indoor campaign, Taylor won the first of two awards during the season after the opener.

Next Up
The Panthers are in action next at the Dave Rankin Invitational, April 15-16, in West Lafayette, Ind.