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.
