Taylor Koss Sits Down With Local TV Station

Taylor Koss has received quite a bit of attention since joining the Milwaukee track & field team.

The senior hurdler is both one of the best 400m hurdlers in school history, and also THE best deaf 400m hurdler in American and collegiate history.

Local WISN reporter Tim Elliot heard about Taylor and came to campus last week to meet the speedster with a unique story. Check out the complete video - which aired last night - at WISN.com.

Running Over The Hill

Panther cross country and track and field alum Dot McMahan (formerly Dot Bunnell) has done a lot
of running in her time - both for the Black & Gold and since graduating from Milwaukee in 1999.

McMahan is now set to run the well publicized New York Marathon this Sunday after recently celebrating her 40th birthday - a significant number in the distance running world these days, writes Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sports reporter Lori Nickel.

Check out Nickel's complete feature on how McMahan has been doing since her days on the Milwaukee campus at JSOnline.com.

More Love For The Pozolinskis

As mentioned in the previous post, Brett and Nate Pozolinski have had quite the busy few weeks. After qualifying for the NCAA National Championships in Eugene, Ore., the Pozolinskis had a media day of sorts up in their home town of Kimberly, Wis.

Two written stories - one in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the other in the Appleton Post-Crescent - hit newsstands Wednesday morning. You can see both of those stories here.

But that wasn't all. Time Warner Cable's JP Cadorin also made the trip to talk to the two soon-to-be-crowned All-Americans, with his story debuting Tuesday night on Sports Weekly. That video is now available online and can be seen here: http://www.twcsportschannel.com/videos/2016/06/10/wi-pozolinski-brothers-training-for-national-meet

Pozolinski Media Day

Late last week, after brothers Brett & Nate Pozolinski both punched their tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, the brothers essentially held an impromptu media day of sorts while preparing to compete at nationals.

Now, those interviews have turned into previews and feature stories about the brothers as they get ready for the biggest meets of their young lives.

First, the Appleton Post-Crescent's Tim Froberg caught up with both brothers while practicing at their home track in Kimberly, Wis. about what it means for both brothers to make nationals at the same meet. Check out his story, including video interviews with both brothers, here: http://www.postcrescent.com/story/sports/college/2016/06/07/pozolinski-brothers-compete-ncaa-meet/85568964/

The Pozolinski's also chatted with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Lori Nickel. Nickel writes about the brothers' connection, passion for a sport that doesn't always get the most praise and what the future holds for the talented duo. Read here story here: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/panthers/uwms-pozolinski-brothers-sharing-quest-for-glory-b99739657z1-382182541.html

"Two-Sport Steph"

Milwaukee sophomore Steph Kostowicz garnered lots of attention during the women's basketball season; and rightfully so! The Franklin, Wis. native helped lead the Panthers to their best season in 10 years, being named First Team All-Horizon League along the way.

But, while the basketball season has been finished for a little over a month now, Kostowicz hasn't slowed down. That's because she's now turned her attention to track & field, where she excels in throwing events for the Black & Gold.

Fox 6's Tim Van Vooren caught up with the busy Kostowicz earlier this week to see just how she is able to do it all.

http://www.twcsportschannel.com/videos/2016/04/25/milwaukee-panthers-high-jump-record-goes-down

Pozolinski Breaking High Jump Records

Milwaukee senior Brett Pozolinski has quickly made quite the name for himself. While he's been a

notable high jumper for the Black & Gold the past 3-plus years, Pozolinski has taken his game to the next level in his last collegiate season.

The senior from Kimberly, Wis. has broken both school records in high jump and posted the team's best ever finish at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships earlier this year, being named First Team All-American after finishing fifth in his event.

Time Warner Cable's JP Cadorin caught up with Pozolinski and his talented coach, Garrett Huyler, at practice last week to talk about what has made this season so successful. Check out the complete interview here: http://www.twcsportschannel.com/videos/2016/04/25/milwaukee-panthers-high-jump-record-goes-down

Koss Doesn't Let Deafness Slow Him Down

Don't try to adjust the volume. When the Horizon League Network met with Taylor Koss earlier this year, they wanted to try to tell his story in a unique way - just as he would hear it.

Koss - a senior on the Milwaukee track & field team - is deaf. But that hasn't slowed down anything. Well, except how he almost missed out on a chance to join the team.

Watch for yourself below or at the following link: https://vimeo.com/163551589


Taylor Koss Final Vimeo from WebStream Productions, Inc. on Vimeo.

Former Panther Wins Crazylegs Classic

Former UWM standout Holly Nearman (pictured left) battled the elements and was the top female finisher at the annual Crazylegs Classic in Madison, Wis. Saturday morning. The 2008 graduate won the 8km(4.97 mile) race with a time of 28 minutes, 59 seconds, a full 23 seconds in front of the next finisher.

Nearman was a two-time All League First-Team member in cross country and was named the 2008 Horizon League Outdoor Athlete of the Year after breaking the school record in the 5000m, missing a trip to the NCAA Championships by one place.

Nearman also was the top female finisher at the 2008 Al's Run in Milwaukee.

Impressive Start

This past weekend marked the season opener for the Milwaukee men's & women's track and field teams and they didn't just start things off with a bang, it was more like a thunderous "ka-boom."

The Panthers started the outdoor season in Nashville at the Vanderbilt Black & Gold and had some simply outstanding performances. All told, Milwaukee capped the weekend with two first-place finishes at the competitive meet and a whopping nine national rankings in tow.

Durell Busby continued his torrid assault on the UWM record book. After an outstanding indoor season where the junior broke his own record in the 60m hurdles three weeks in a row, Busby nearly broke his own school record time in the 110m hurdles, crossing the line at 13.95 seconds. That was just 0.04 behind the top-time he posted at his NCAA Qualifier last season and currently ranks fifth in the country and less than three-hundredths of one second shy of the nation's fastest time.

In men's 400m hurdle action, sophomore Dexter Schleis stole the show by shattering the school record with a time of 52.24, besting the previous top time by nearly a full second. The sophomore's impressive run currently ranks 23rd in the nation.

Milwaukee continued its dominance in triple jump in the opener, posting three jumps in the top-100 in the country. Freshman Aaron Dillon has the highest ranking, coming in at an outstanding 14th after a leap of 15.20m. Also on the men's side, senior Jake Whitewater cleared 14.02m, which is currently 99th.

On the women's end, junior Samia Taylor - fresh off her trip to nationals last season - had a strong opening jump of 12.49m and now is 20th in the country, not far behind the leading distance of 13.12m.

Also receiving national rankings after just the first week are sophomore Nancy Harmon (60th/hammer throw), senior Calanetta Burrows (69th/400m hurdles), senior Matt Jensen (73rd/hammer throw) and the men's 100m relay team of Busby, Cory Yttre, Schleis and Washington Farrington are 94th after their combined run of 41.76 seconds.

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.

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.”

Live Blog: UWM Panther Tune-Up

This is the first-ever Milwaukee track and field live blog. Follow along and follow history!

Field events start at 4 p.m. and track events follow at approximately 6:30 p.m. Check the live blog for results and notable times.

Top 10 Moments of Milwaukee Athletics in 2010*

* Well, in assistant SID Kevin Conway's estimation.

Just before the end of 2010, I decided to make a list of the top 10 moments of the year in Panther Athletics. Well, these are one man's humble opinion of the top moments. No voting. No debate. Just me and my memories of the year. Click through and you can see some of the highlights of the year that was.

First, some disclaimers: I generally favor my sports. Sorry... it's just how I roll. Championships are great, but this is not a list of championships. Those are great, but other moments may be better. Lastly, I don't let losing ruin a great moment (my sports career was filled with losing, so I don't let it bother me).

-conway


10. November 27 - Marquette 75, Men's Basketball 72
I know it’s a loss. But, I went to UWM (Class of 2003), so seeing a game against Marquette that was that close, and with that atmosphere, was amazing.

9. September 1 – Men's Soccer 4, Marquette 2
This is not a trend. The Panthers took back the Milwaukee Cup with a thrilling 4-2 win over the Golden Eagles at Valley Fields. It was a great start to the season.

8. December 4 – Lindsay Laur’s 1,000th Point
The sports I cover tend to carry a bit more wait with me, but 1,000 career points is a remarkable achievement. Lindsay Laur joined the club against Northern Iowa and is working her way up the career scoring and rebounding charts. She has a unique skill set in the annals of UWM basketball, put fully on display against Wright State on New Year's Eve when she had 26 points, 17 rebounds and 6 three-pointers.

7. October 1 – Texas 4, Women's Soccer 3 (OT)
In my experience in Texas, whether or not everything is better... I cannot say. But, this was a Texas-sized score in an exciting shootout with the Longhorns. The Panthers jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but scored goals to tie the game at 2-2 and 3-3 (in the 85th minute) before UT prevailed in overtime. Sarah Hagen had two goals and assisted on the third to tie the Horizon League and UWM record for career goals.

6. February 27 – Men’s Swimming & Diving wins Horizon League Championship
Despite not winning an individual title during the meet, the Panthers led from the second day on and claimed their first Horizon League Championship since 2000. See the celebration here.

5-4. February 28 and May 2 – Milwaukee wins all four Track & Field league titles
Only three teams has one program won all four men's/women's/indoor/outdoor Horizon League Championships. Those teams:
2001 Milwaukee Panthers
2007 Milwaukee Panthers
2010 Milwaukee Panthers (1, 2, 3, 4).

3. May 30 – Baseball wins Horizon League Championship
A gutsy pitching performance highlighted the Panthers' 4-2 win over No. 1 seed Wright State in the second league title game. Milwaukee fell to the Raiders earlier in the tournament, but knocked off WSU in back-to-back games to claim the championship. After throwing 150 pitches three days earlier, Chad Pierce returned to give up just two runs in six innings. The offense was on board with 14 runs against Wright State in the first championship game and four in the second.

2. November 7 - Women's Soccer 5, Butler 0

How do you exact revenge from a team that ended your league-record 22-game league winning streak and 37-game home league unbeaten streak during the regular season? Beat them 5-0 in the Horizon League Championship game on their home field. The Panthers did that. They won their third-straight league tournament crown with a road rout and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the 8th time.

NOTE: The previous time UWM was not a No. 1 seed in the league tournament was 2008. That year, Milwaukee beat Wright State in the semifinals and routed the top seed on its home field... then it was 6-2 at Loyola. I love it when a plan comes together.

1. October 8 – Women's Soccer 5, Valparaiso 0
There were a number of factors that made this my number one choice:
• First game played on Engelmann Field this season after the first 12 games were played anywhere but Engelmann. All told, the Panthers were on the road for nine of those games. The field turned out great.
• 683 people packed into Engelmann Field on a Friday night makes for a great atmosphere regardless of the game.
• The women's team was participating in another successful Pink Out weekend to benefit breast cancer.
• Sarah Hagen entered the game needing one goal to become the Horizon league and Milwaukee's all-time leading goal scorer. She didn't disappoint, getting the first of two goals in the 20th minute (lots of coverage at that link).

I conceded earlier where my biases lie, but it was a good game and an electrifying atmosphere. I thought it was the top moment of the year, but then again I'm partial to soccer, night games and Engelmann Field. Great things happen when those things come together.

Track Championships Video

Ryan Mleziva of the men's track and field team put together a video of highlights and pictures from the 2010 Horizon League Indoor Championships, Feb. 27-28, in Ann Arbor, Mich. We added the video to the uwmathletics channel on YouTube. Check it out below:

The Panthers swept the men's and women's titles at the event.

UWM Student-Athletes Join Horizon League SAAC At Riley's Children's Hospital

UWM student-athletes Natalie Chery (volleyball) and Emily Budde (track and field) were part of a contingent of Horizon League student-athletes who visited Riley's Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.

Chery and Budde are UWM's representatives on the Horizon League's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee

You can read more about the visit here.

Panther Track In The Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee track and field program had a nice feature in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today. Mark Stewart did the piece and it's a nice lead-in to the 2009 Horizon League Championships, which start tonight in Lisle, Ill.

His story is here.

My women's preview is here.

My men's preview is here.

And, if you want to follow the meet, the league's championship page for the meet is here.

Al's Run Pub...

Nate Weiland and Holly Nearman were featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's story of the run here.

There is also a picture of the two of them after the race here.

Panthers Shine At Al's Run

The Panthers boasted the men's and women's winners of Al's Run, which was Saturday in Milwaukee.

Nate Weiland, a former athlete and current assistant coach, won the men's side, while Holly Nearman won the women's race. Nearman exhausted her cross country eligibility last season and will be a senior with the track and field team this season.

Weiland ran a time of 24:58 to win the men's race by 26 seconds over second place. Another former Panther, Aaron Nodolf, finished fifth with a time of 25:44 and won the 30-34 age group.

Nearman, meanwhile, won by nine seconds with a time of 29:45. She is the reigning Horizon

League Outdoor Athlete of the Year and was a two-time all-league first-team runner in cross

 country.

Al's Run is an 8,000m and featured 1,877 male runners and 1,406 women. Results available here.