UWM Alum McMahon Moving Closer To Olympic Marathon

UWM alum Dot McMahon just cut a good chunk off of her best-ever time marathon time and seems to be gearing up for a great run at an Olympic berth.

She ran 2:35:02 in the 2008 Olympic Trials but ran 2:31:48 at the highly Grandma's Marathon earlier this month.

You can read the note from the Journal Sentinel here and further details from Runner's World here.

George Karl At College For Kids Event

This is not a direct tie-in to Panther athletics, but I wanted to bring an upcoming UWM event with a sports angle to your attention.

The event – “Celebrating 30 Years of Successful Kids With MVP George Karl” – is Tuesday, June 28 from 5:30-9:30 p.m. It will be held at UWM’s School of Continuing Education, which is on the seventh floor of the Grand Avenue Mall.

The evening benefits UWM’s College for Kids, which is put on each summer by the School of Continuing Education. Former Bucks and current Denver Nuggets coach George Karl has been one of the biggest supporters of this program for the last seven years and will be in attendance at this special event.

The event includes a silent auction (both live and online), a heads or tails raffle, a four-course meal and opportunities to mingle, with proceeds benefiting the SMILE (Sponsorship Money Investing in Lifelong Education) Scholarship program and College for Kids and College for Teens programming.

For more information on the event, go to http://www4.uwm.edu/sce/conference.cfm?id=748.

Those with questions can also contact Liza Longhini at 414-227-3252 or lizal@uwm.edu.

Chad Pierce Interview on Time Warner Sports 32

UWM's Chad Pierce became the 16th player in program history to get drafted when he was selected yesterday by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 38th round.

JP Cadorin from Time Warner Cable Sports 32 stopped by the Panthers Athletic Department to do an interview and I taped it over his shoulder (with permission first, of course). He said to look for it on TWC Sports 32 Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The following comes from the draft story on www.brewers.com, regarding Pierce. "Seid" is Brewers amateur scouting director Bruce Seid.

"Milwaukee did select about a handful of athletes who attended the team's pre-Draft workout Friday. Among those were pitcher David Lucroy, who is the brother of Brewers' catcher Jonathan Lucroy, catcher Dustin Houle and University of Wisconsin Milwaukee product Chad Pierce. Seid said Pierce's strong frame and his 92-mph fastball helped him turn heads during the workout, and the Fond du Lac, Wisc., native will have every opportunity to prove his worth. The 38th-round selection went 6-4 with a 3.21 ERA in 15 starts for the Panthers this season."

The Fond du Lac Reporter, the hometown newspaper of Pierce, also did a nice story which can be accessed HERE.

A Q&A with Track & Field's Samia Taylor

Samia Taylor is in Iowa for the 2011 NCAA Championships, where she will be competing in the triple jump Friday. She is Milwaukee's first national qualifier since 2007 (Nick Gretz, discus) and is looking to become the program's first NCAA Division I women's All-American.

For more information on Samia at the NCAA Championships here

UWM SID Kevin Conway: What are your goals for the NCAA Championships this weekend?

Samia Taylor: “My main goal this weekend (is to finish in the top eight) and be an All-American. On top of that, I would no doubt like to keep PRing, but a big thing would be to go 13.30m (43-7 3/4) or 13.40m (43-11 3/4) to get me to USA Nationals in two weeks. Being at Nationals is always a privilege, but it’s also good to have big goals here because this is where you leave it all on the track.”

KC: How has this season met with your expectations?

ST: “Getting this far is still shocking to me, it still hasn’t quite sunk in yet that I’m here. I feel like I’ve worked hard to get here and just being able to improve in almost every meet, especially since conference, is great. I never would’ve thought I’d go this far, especially this soon. Coach Francis said I'd be here this year, but I kind of looked at him in disbelief. I guess I should listened to him a little more and believed what he was talking about. But, yes, this season has met all the expectations I could’ve asked for. The beginning of the season was a rough start, but I finally got it together outdoor.”

KC: After fouling in your first two jumps at Oregon, what was going through your mind on that third jump? After you qualified for the finals with that jump?

ST: “Everything was going through my mind at that moment. I was telling myself, ‘I didn’t come this far to not mark a jump.’ After those first two jumps, I was a little nervous. Coach Francis, at the moment, had walked away before my last jump in prelims, so I knew I wasn’t the only one disappointed in those first two jumps. When I got onto the runway for my final jump, I knew it was all or nothing. I knew I had to give it my all and land the jump or it was pack my bags and be done for the season. At that moment I just said a little prayer, let everything in my head go, relaxed, then I just got after it. I gave it all I could down that runway and finished the jump. When I got out that pit and seen that white flag to indicate that it was a fair jump I was relieved. I found out that it was a 12.74m (41-9 3/4) jump. That jump got me into the finals, which took a lot of stress off of me.

"Heading into finals I knew I had to go out there, relax and have fun. I knew what I was capable of, so I knew I just needed to go out there and do it. On my first jump in finals I jumped 12.91m (42-4 1/2), which moved me into fifth place. My last two jumps in finals were a little behind that, but in the end that 12.91m ended up getting me sixth place and into nationals. Even to this day it still hasn’t sunk in, but I’m glad everything came together, even though it was on the last jump. :)”

KC: You are hitting your stride heading into nationals, PRing and setting school records at each of your last three meets. How as this recent stretch helped as you get further into post-season competition?

ST: “This last stretch has definitely helped a lot. Being able to PR three meets prior, it gives me the mindset that I know I can continue on this stretch and hopefully bring it home with a huge jump. I know with coming off these performances there shouldn’t be anything holding me back on Friday.”