Konopka breaks 19-year old MU freshman record in 60 hurdles

Saturday, January 26

Iowa City, Iowa

ALL DAY

Marquette University

Black & Gold Invitational

Konopka breaks 19-year old MU freshman record in 60 hurdles

1/26/2019 10:03:00 PM | Track & Field

Results (PDF)Marquette Results (PDF)

The Golden Eagles resume action next weekend at Notre Dame’s Meyo Invitational

By: Communications

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Hurdler Ben Konopka broke a 19-year old Marquette University freshman record in the men's 60-meter hurdles as the MU men's and women's track and field squads concluded action at the Black and Gold Premier on Saturday at the Hawkeye Indoor Track in Iowa City, Iowa.

"Overall it was a very good meet for the last weekend in January," Marquette head track and field coach Bert Rogers said. "We're in a really good spot. Both teams had some very nice performances and new top-10 marks. We're set up well going into the meat of our schedule, going to Notre Dame this weekend, at Grand Valley the next week and then onto BIG EAST."

Konopka is now the second-fastest to ever run the 60 hurdles at Marquette, trailing only Nic Wucherer, whose freshman record he broke. Konopka's time of 8.23 seconds beat Wucherer's mark by a tenth of a second.

Two other MU athletes moved up in the program's top 10 on Saturday as junior Breanne Marchan jumped to third with a 24.98 time in the women's 200 and Daniel Bendel moved into the men's top 10 in the 200 with a time of 22.33 seconds.

The Golden Eagles also captured five event victories with sweeps in the men's and women's 800 ( Emma Moravec and Alec Miller) and mile (Mary Hanson and Brad Eagan), while Daniel Armstrong took home top honors in the high jump with a leap of 2.15 meters (7 feet, 1/2 inch).

On Friday night, Terrance Howard and Brendan McKinney placed second and third, respectively, in the men's weight throw, while Keeley Knobbe was fourth on the women's side.

Meet Highlights
Marquette Top-10:

Ben Konopka set the Marquette freshman record in the men's 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.23 seconds, which also ranks as the second-best mark in MU history.
Junior Breanne Marchan recorded a 200-meter dash time of 24.98 seconds to move her from ninth in program history to third. She placed fourth in the race.
Sophomore Daniel Bendel placed ninth in the 200 with a time of 22.33 seconds, placing him 10th in Marquette history.
Daniel Pederson's time of 8:22.78 is the 10th fastest men's 3k time in program history.

Event Winners:

Senior Mary Hanson won the women's mile in a time of 4:58.36, while classmate Brad Eagan won the men's race with a mark of 4:11.32.
Junior Daniel Armstrong set the meet record in the the men's high jump and won the event by clearing a height of 2.15 meters (7 feet, 1/2 inch).
Sophomore Emma Moravec captured the women's 800-meter dash in a time of 2:14.01. It is the third-fastest time of her MU career (her personal-best time sits fourth in program history).
Redshirt senior Alec Miller won the men's 800 in a meet-record time of 1:52.58 (Miller owns the MU freshman record).

Notable Personal Bests (outside of event winners and program top-10 marks):

All four MU runners in the women's 600 recorded personal bests, led by freshman Emily Noone, whose time of 1:36.28 is five-hundredths of a second short of the No. 10 mark in program history. Amy Gasperlin (third, 1:36.44), Grace Dargwiecz (fourth, 1:38.67) and Aura Mala (sixth, 1:41.75) also ran.
Madison Marko ran a time of 7.88 seconds in the Olympic Development finals of the women's 60-meter dash.
Freshman Jeff Garbutt placed fifth in the men's 600 in a time of 1:22.93.
Freshman Brady Heller (50.98) and sophomore Kevin Sherwood (51.41) placed 12th and 15th, respectively in the men's 400.
Sophomore Caitlin McGauley placed third in the women's mile behind Hanson with a PR of 5:06.40.
In the men's 60, Bendel ran a PRs of 7.11 seconds in his preliminary heat and 7.10 in the final that placed him sixth.
Freshman Alec Catarozoli ran the 200 with Bendel and Jay Whalen and finished 11th in a time of 22.39 seconds.

Keep up with the Marquette University program through social media by following on Twitter (@MUTFXC) and Instagram (@MUTFXC) and 'liking' on Facebook (/MUTFXC).