The Marquette women's indoor track team took first place Saturday at the 2006 Pepsi Challenge at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., and the men finished second.

The results were not exactly on the athletes' minds before the meet, however, with the Big East indoor championships a week away.

"A lot of track meets aren't scored," head coach Dave Uhrich said. "Going in, we didn't know that it was going to be a scored met, and we didn't plan on taking this meet that seriously. But we did end up doing well."

Although the meet was hardly a high-pressure event, Marquette's athletes performed well. Sophomore Jessica Ehlen earned first place in shot put with a toss of 13.23 meters and first place in weight throw with a thrust of 16.18 meters.

"It was nice to win both," Ehlen said. "I have struggled with shot put all year, so it was nice to do well. I worked on technique at the meet."

"I felt good going into the meet," Ehlen added. "I knew that it was going to be a tune-up. I was mainly focusing on form because it wasn't a big meet. The meet basically got the whole team ready for conference."

Uhrich agreed that the team simply needed a tune-up before the conference championship meet next Saturday and Sunday in Akron, Ohio.

"I thought it was a good weekend," he said. "We got the main thing we wanted before the Big East conference meet. We just wanted a real low-key meet where we could compete in a relaxed atmosphere and get ready for the Big East."

Stand-out performers on the men's side included junior Brent Des Roches, who won the mile race and set the meet record with a time of 4:15.77. Sophomore Scott Mueller won the 3000 meter-run with a time of 8:33.41.

"There wasn't a lot of high-powered competition," Uhrich said. "There were mainly non-Division I schools, but there were definitely some very good athletes. There was not as much competition as a typical meet that we go to, but that's what we wanted right before the Big East conference."

Throughout the season, 19 men and 14 women from Marquette have qualified for the Big East meet. The future looks bright for these talented young athletes as the conference meet approaches.

"There is always room for improvement in every area," Uhrich said. "We are just looking to improve as a whole track team. We want to make the conference meet the best meet of the year."