The Milwaukee women’s track & field team participated in the Fighting Illini Twilight hosted by Illinois, demonstrating significant progress in performance. During the event, held in Champaign, six Panthers athletes advanced within the university’s all-time outdoor top-10 rankings.
Head coach Andrew Basler noted the overall improvement: “With the Horizon League Championships two weeks away, today was exactly the progress we plan for as coaches. There were a lot of career and season bests across all events.”
Katie Burns made a notable advance, reaching second place in the school rankings for the 400m dash with a finish time of 54.72, securing the runner-up position in that event. Basler remarked on her achievement, saying, “Katie ran a great 400m race for huge personal best and making a run at the school record.” Burns also contributed to the 4x100m relay team with Angelica Refinski, Isabel Roloff, and Victoria Evtimov, recording the second-best time in the university’s history at 46.13.
In the 100m hurdles, Natalie Block led Milwaukee with a time of 13.73, followed by Anna Szepieniec with a sub-14 second performance, placing her fifth all-time. Basler commented, “Today was a great breakthrough race for Anna to get under that 14 second mark for the first time.”
Sara Jochims advanced to eighth all-time in the 3000m steeplechase, completing the race in 11:22.87. Basler added, “Sara also had a big time drop in the steeplechase that will give her a ton of momentum heading into conference.”
In the field events, Morgan Pilate achieved a second-place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 12.40m, moving to sixth on the all-time list. Basler noted, “Morgan had a really impressive outdoor best, jumping from over a foot back from foul.”
Hailey Soriaga tied for seventh place in the university’s records in the pole vault, clearing 3.67m, while Anelise Egge placed third in the 1500m run with a career-best time of 4:29.03. Cailin Kinas competed in her first 5000m run, securing third place with a time of 17:43.28.
Looking ahead, the Milwaukee team will divide efforts between two upcoming meets: the Jim Green Invitational at Shivley Track & Field Stadium in Lexington, Ky., and the Badger Challenge in Madison, Wi. These will be the final events before the Horizon League Championships scheduled for May 9-11 in Youngstown, Ohio.
