Track & Field Celebrates 100 Years

Friday, December 2

South Bend, Ind.

2:30 P.M. CT

Marquette University

Blue & Gold Invitational

12/1/2022 4:55:00 PM | Track & Field

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Golden Eagles open up 100th year at Notre Dame on Dec. 2

By: Communications

MILWAUKEE - The 2022-23 season will mark the 100th year of track & field at Marquette University. The Marquette track & field program will be highlighting its coaches, athletes & teams throughout the season who have helped bring the program to where it is today.

"The Program has such a rich history and so many stories to tell," said Director of Track & Field Bert Rogers.

The Marquette track & field program got its official start in 1923 under the direction of head coach Conrad Jennings. Jennings led the program for its first 25 seasons until he passed the torch to one of his former athletes, Melvin "Bus" Shimek.

Including Jennings and Shimek, there have been eight coaches on the men's and women's sides in the program's 100-year history. Jim Allen (1978-1988), David Uhrich (1988-2007) and current head coach Bert Rogers coached both the men's and women's teams.

"I'm definitely aware of all the great coaches that have come before me and I feel like I'm a steward of the program," said Rogers. "There are so many great stories when I talk to alumni about Jim Allen and Dave Uhrich."

In the program's history, it has had over 350 individual conference champions and collected 29 team conference titles. MU won its first conference title back in 1940 when it won the Central Collegiate Conference Outdoor Championship. The Marquette women earned their first conference championship in 1992 when they won the Great Midwest Conference Championship for the indoor season.

"There are so many individual moments with individual athletes that I can think of during my time," said Rogers. "I think the biggest moment was in 2016 when both the men's and women's teams won the BIG EAST Outdoor Championships. Being able to do that with both teams together was a very special moment."

2016 was the second time in the program's history that both the men and women won the conference championship in the same season. The first occurred in 1996 when both the men and women won the Conference USA Outdoor Championships.

Going beyond conference championships, the program has produced 89 NCAA Regional qualifiers, 54 All-Americans and has collected 13 individual NCAA titles. Before becoming head coach, "Bus" Shimek was the first track & field All-American at Marquette after winning the two-mile at the 1927 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

The program has had many athletes go on to compete on not only on the national stage but also the international stage.

"We go way back to the 1920s and 1930s, the era of Ralph Metcalfe is pretty well known," said Rogers. "But we've had a number of Olympians in the 50s. John Bennett and Ken Weisner were two other Olympic medalists."

Six Olympians have come out of the Marquette track & field program. The first being John Brennan, who competed at the 1908 London Olympics even before track & field was an official sport at Marquette. Ralph Metcalfe won four medals over the course of two Olympics (1932,1936), including a gold medal as a member of the 4x100 relay team in 1936. Ken Weisner (1952) and John Bennett (1956) both received silver medals; Weisner in the high jump and Bennett in the long jump.

Brothers, Jack and Pete Walter competed in distance events at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.

"We're planning some stuff for the 100-year anniversary, planning a nice reunion in the springtime," said Rogers. "We're also trying to plan some stuff around the indoor BIG EAST Championships as well in Chicago because we know we have a lot of alumni in the Chicago land area."

The Marquette track & field program looks forward to highlighting and reconnecting with its alumni who have helped contribute to the program's history over its 100 year existence.

100th-Year Season Opener
The Golden Eagles kick off its 100-year celebration this Friday, Dec. 2 at Notre Dame and Blue & Gold Invitational. Marquette first competed at Notre Dame in 1926.

Bethel, Butler, DePaul, Detroit Mercy and Valparaiso will be competing along with Marquette and host Notre Dame.

Action begins in South Bend, Indiana at 2:30 p.m. CT with the field events and the running events to follow at 4 p.m. with the 60-meter hurdles. Live results for the meet can be found here.

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