Panthers Set For NCAA Regionals This Weekend
MILWAUKEE, Wis. (May 29, 2008) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's and women's track and field teams send seven athletes to the NCAA Regionals this weekend, hosted by the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Representing the men will be senior Darren Cole in the triple jump, sophomore Quinn Mongoven in the high jump and the 4x100m relay. The relay consist of senior Lynn Koepke, junior Adam Schleis and sophomores Tyler Bucholz and Isaiah Adams. Bucholz will also compete in the 200m and Schleis in the 110m hurdles. On the women's side, senior Holly Nearman will run in the 5000m, while sophomore Laura Ring will compete in the 800m. The preliminaries of the men's 200m, 110m hurdles, 4x100m, high jump and women's 800m and 5000m will run on Friday. Cole will compete Saturday, with "We're excited heading to Arkansas," Milwaukee head coach Pete Corfeld said. "We'll be looking for qualifiers for the finals and the NCAA Championships next month. Everyone also has goals of (personal records) and school records." Cole is the men's lone automatic qualifier. He cleared a personal-best 50-0 3/4 in winning a sixth career league triple jump championship earlier this month.
Like Cole, Nearman was also an automatic qualifier, surpassing the regional-qualifying mark twice this season. Her best time broke the school record at the Drake Relays when she ran a time of 16:47.80. At the league meet she was second in the event. The remainder of the Panthers at the meet will be competing with bids as league champions. - Bucholz has run his best 200m time of 21.39 twice this season. He won league titles in the 100m, 200m and with the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. - Schleis remained perfect in his career at league meets in the 110m hurdles with a school and league-record time of 14.40. He surpassed the school mark he shared of 14.45, then ran 14.42 two weeks ago in winning the event at the Cardinal Twilight at Louisville. - The 4x100m relay has come in under 41 seconds three times this season, hitting a season-best time of 40.81 twice. The times are tied for second in school history with each other. Koepke, who will likely run with the quartet at regionals, has spent the majority of the season on the relay, while Cole has filled in a few times and contributed to the time once. - Mongoven has cleared 6-8 3/4 at each of his last two events, including to remain undefeated in the league in the high jump. He has won the indoor and outdoor league titles in each of his first two seasons. - Ring posted her personal-best time of 2:11.90 in winning the league 800m championship. She has also finished under 2:14.00 two other times, including two weeks ago at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Milwaukee is competing for individual places at the NCAA Championships June 11-14 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Nick Gretz qualified for the national meet last season and was the first Panther to do so since 1998. |
