Milwaukee Women Return To Iowa For Iowa State Classic
2008 Individual Results and Top Times in PDF Format MILWAUKEE, Wis. (Feb. 14, 2008) - With just two weeks remaining before the league championships, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's track and field team returns to action this weekend at the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa. The meet kicks off Friday and runs through Saturday. Milwaukee ended up not attending the Roo Open in Akron, Ohio, last weekend as scheduled, but did send some athletes to the Dick Pond Invitational, hosted by Lewis in Romeoville, Ill. Junior Jes Weyandt paced the Panther contingent at the meet, winning the pole vault with a final height of 11-2. UWM also got a second-place showing in the high jump from freshman Chelsea Von Ruden (5-1 ¾) and a pair of top-10 finishers in the 800m in freshman Tanaiya Fisher (4th) and sophomore Erin Willis (7th). The last time the Panthers competed as a team was also in Iowa at the Northern Iowa Invitational. Junior Holly Nearman led the team by winning the 3000m, while sophomore Jamie Woods broke the school record in the weight throw. Nearman paced the field with a time of 10:13.41. Meanwhile, Woods threw 51-7 in the weight throw to surpass the mark of 48-7 ½ set last season. The Panthers are quite familiar with the Iowa State Classic, having scheduled the meet in each of the last seven seasons. Last season, Jenni Saarinen and Amber Curtis highlighted the event for UWM by setting school records. Saarinen broke her own record in taking second in the pentathlon, while Curtis topped the school weight throw mark and had the second-best shot put in school history.
Saarinen is one of two Panthers to earn the Horizon League's Athlete of the Week award, doing so after the Wisconsin Elite Invitational Jan. 25, where she won the pentathlon. Junior Beth Zimmerman has also garnered the award, earning it after the season-opening meet, while UWM boasts the two weekly award winners on the men's side as well. Milwaukee is preparing for the 2008 Horizon League Indoor Championships just two weeks away in Kent, Ohio. The meet is hosted by Youngstown State this season and runs March 1-2. The Panthers are the two-time defending indoor league champions and are gunning for their seventh indoor crown. Before heading to the league meet, UWM does have one last tune-up, hosting the UWM Panther Tune-Up Friday, Feb. 22, at the Klotsche Center. The meet is the team's only home meet of the 2008 season. |
