Schaal Captures Heptathlon at Kansas Relays with School Record

Lawrence, Kan. – Senior Shelby Schaal broke the school record and took first in the heptathlon to lead the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee track & field teams after the first two days of action at the 85th annual Kansas Relays hosted by Kansas University.

Schaal set season-best times in both the 200m (26.10) and the 100m hurdles (14.57) en route to tallying 5,063 points, topping her previous best by over 100 points to set the new Milwaukee school record in the event. That mark now stands in the top 30 in the nation.

Schaal was also the top collegian in the heptathlon and takes home a gold medal and coveted Kansas Relays winners watch for her efforts. She is just the second Panther to achieve such an accomplishment, first done by Milwaukee hall of fame inductee Angie Molter.

"Our multi-event student athletes put in a lot of time and hard work and have to work over two days at nearly every meet," Milwaukee head coach Pete Corfeld said. "We always strive for greatness and that really showed here today. Our men and women know what it takes and winning a gold medal really solidifies that."

The Panthers added 17 more season-best marks on in the first two days of action, highlighted by Dan Simon, Drew Feuk and Ben Crogan in the decathlon.

Simon posted six season-best results in the decathlon to finish fourth overall with 6,418 points, also a season best to improve on his standing in the national rankings.

Feuk also posted six season-best marks to finish with 5,931 points, while Crogan added five season-best finishes with 5,027 points.

In the women's 800m, senior Erika Hanson just missed taking more time off her sixth-place standing in school history, taking ninth overall in 2:15.53. Kristi Schuette also had a strong showing in the event, coming in 16th out of over 60 runners with a season-best time of 2:16.54. Jeff Pigg led the way for the men, taking 18th out of 90 runners in 1:55.75 with sophomore Brian Klipstein just behind in 1:58.49.

Freshman Sammy Woller took ninth out of over 40 runners in the 1500m, crossing the line with a season-best time of 4:47.99. On the men's side, Sam Leschisin came in 26th out of over 70 competitors at 4:04.13.

In hammer throw, senior Matt Jensen led the way on the men's side, taking 14th with a toss of 165-10 (50.56m), while junior Moriah Myles was 16th at 164-8 (50.20m) on the women's side.

Thomas Wells finished 31st in the 10,000m in the day's final event.