MILWAUKEE, Wis. (April 21, 2010) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's and women's track and field teams return to action this weekend, heading to the Drake Relays and Marquette Invitational in preparation of the 2010 Horizon League Outdoor Championships, April 30-May 2, in Lisle, Ill.

The Panthers will compete at the prestigious Drake Relays on Friday and Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa. Those who do not go to Iowa, will remain in Milwaukee and compete across town at the Marquette Invitational Saturday at Bus Shimek Track.

UWM is preparing for the 2010 league championships where the men will be vying for their seventh-straight outdoor title and 14th-straight crown overall. The women have never finished below second outdoors with five championships.

Milwaukee had an outstanding weekend last weekend, breaking a pair of school records at the Mt. SAC Relays and posting other strong performances at the Rankin Invitational hosted by Purdue. Senior Tyler Bucholz won the 400m at Mt. SAC, breaking the school record in the process. He ran 47.09 to eclipse the mark of 47.11 set by Isaiah Adams in 2009 as he won a league title in the event.

Freshman John Simons also shaved a second off his school record in the 5000m, running 14:32.82 to trump his previous time of 14:33.85.

Freshman Samia Taylor cleared 40 feet in the triple jump at the Rankin Invite and sophomore Katie Duchow excelled in the 100m and 200m events to highlight the teams' performances there. Taylor joined senior Beth Zimmerman as the only women to clear 40 feet in the triple jump outdoors, leaping 40-2 3/4, which is second only to Zimmerman's school record of 40-6.

Duchow placed in the top three in both the 100m and 200m, cracking UWM's all-time top 10 in both events. In the 100m, she took second in 12.19, the eighth-best time in school history. She also ran 24.93 for third in the 200m and the seventh-best time in school history.

After the weekend, Milwaukee now has six athletes ranked among the top 96 nationally in eight events. Bucholz's 400m time is 45th, while his top 200m time of 21.21 is 70th. Both of those times are third in the Great Lakes Region. The highest-ranked Panther is senior Quinn Mongoven and his school-record height of 6-11 in the high jump. That has him 34th nationally, despite being tied for eighth in the region.

On the women's side, Zimmerman is 60th in the triple jump and 88th in the long jump (19-4 3/4). Taylor's triple jump is 72nd. In the region, the duo is sixth and seventh in the triple jump, respectively. Senior Kory Olson is 74th in the heptathlon with a score of 4,617 points and freshman Elise Sigg is 90th in the 10,000m with a time of 36:07.70 that she ran at Mt. SAC and is sixth in school history.

NOTES
• Bucholz and senior Kelsey Conrad were named the Horizon League Men's and Women's Track Athletes of the Week for this week. Conrad took sixth in both the 100m and 200m at Mt. SAC.

• Four school records have been tied or broken this season in Bucholz's 400m, Mongoven's high jump, Simons' 5000m and Zimmerman's triple jump.

• The men's 4x400m relay is also ranked regionally with its time of 3:12.94 run at the Sea Ray Relays.

• Mongoven is contributing a blog for the Horizon League Network through the rest of the outdoor season. You can see his first post here.

• Senior Jenni Parish and sophomore Shelby Schaal were named to the Horizon League's Academic All-League Team for the indoor season.