Milwaukee, Wis. – In their final competition leading up to the Horizon League Championships, the Flames had an impressive showing in the Panther Tune-up at the University of Milwaukee.  The women posted three first place and several second place finishes while the men also secured three top finishes.
 
"The competition gave us the opportunity to get another chance to prepare for our indoor conference championships," said head coach Gabe Rivera.   
 
In the women's 60 meters, the Flames finished second through fifth with Ariel Gibbs leading the way with a time of 8.01, followed by teammates Alimot Lawal, Teagan Hough and Payton Jones.  In the 200 meters, Jones (27.41) won her first collegiate event while Basirat Iginla crossed the tape in 1:01.10 to win the 400 meters.  Iginla was accompanied by Roma Siddiqui (2^nd, 1:01.58), Sarah Poulos (3^rd, 1:01.90) and Rachel McKenzie (4^th, 1:02.34).
 
Michelle Borycki captured the 3000 meters in a time of 10:53.69 and Lizzie Deutsch (5:20.48) and Allison Hansen (5:21.16) finished second and third in the one mile run.
 
"I was happy with our performances in the running events," said Rivera.  "We seem to be hitting our stride just before conference.  I was very impressed with our women's 400m sprinters taking 1st - 4th, they pushed each other hard in practice and their work is starting to pay off."
 
The men had success in the field as well as on the track.  Shaun Wollenweber took the triple jump with a mark of 14.84 meters and finished second in the long jump (6.60 m).  Pole vaulter Pawel Klimek placed second with a season best vault of 4.31 m and high jumper Joshua Williams recorded his best leap of the year (1.97 m), good enough for third place. 
 
The Flames took first through third place in the 400 meter with Jakob Mogorovic leading the way with a time of 52.63.  Distance runner Alex Bashqawi was second in the 800 meter, crossing in a time of 1:55.96.
 
"Our goal with the field event athletes was to fine tune our approaches in the jump events and work on some technique in the throws," said Rivera.  "The work paid off with both Pawel Klimek and Josh Williams earning season bests in their respective events."
 
UIC will head east to Ohio next weekend for the two-day Horizon League Indoor Championships hosted by Youngstown State University.