The Milwaukee Panthers men’s track and field team began competition at the Horizon League Indoor Championships in Youngstown, Ohio, with several athletes advancing to event finals. The meet is hosted by Youngstown State at the Watson and Tressel Training Site.
At the conclusion of the first day, Milwaukee held fourth place in the team standings with 15 points.
“Overall, I think we would have liked to see a little bit more happen for us as a team after day one,” said head coach Andrew Basler. “But we are not out of it heading into day two which is a great position to be in at championships.”
Josh Cygan led the Panthers by winning the weight throw title with a personal-best mark of 17.83 meters, moving him to fourth all-time in program history for that event.
“The big highlight was Josh Cygan’s 6th round throw to claim the title,” Basler said. “The energy and support from his teammates was great to see. Great job to Coach Howard and Coach Rogalski for preparing Josh for that moment.”
Three Milwaukee athletes qualified for Sunday’s final in the 400-meter dash: Ty Bauschelt (career-best 48.40), Anthony Buford (personal best 48.79), and Zac Schmidt (49.11). Bauschelt also advanced to the 200-meter dash final after placing third in prelims with a time of 21.88, which ranks tenth in program history; Matt Scardina will join him after finishing eighth (22.53).
In other results, Karsten Grundahl reached the final of the 800-meter run with a time of 1:53.84, finishing fourth in qualifying. Bradyn Thomas placed fifth in pole vault by clearing 4.55 meters.
Alexander Maggit and Kyril Griffin finished ninth (6.78 meters) and tenth (6.73 meters) respectively in long jump.
“I anticipate a crazy amount of energy from our team tomorrow as we close out the indoor championships,” Basler added.
The Panthers will return for day two on Sunday as they aim to improve their standing at the championship meet.
The Milwaukee Panthers men’s track and field team competes in NCAA Division I as part of both indoor and outdoor seasons within the Horizon League and is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The program operates from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, supporting student-athletes’ academic progress while contributing to university athletics tradition.
