Friday was a special day for Marquette track & field, as it hosted the Marquette Invitational. The event included Milwaukee, Wisconsin Lutheran, Bryant & Stratton and Marian.
The only home meet of the season for the Marquette Golden Eagles resulted in a cross-town battle with the local Milwaukee schools at the Melvin “Bus” Shimek Track & Field Facility.
“The Marquette Invitational is a good way for friends, family, and the Marquette Community to come out and support us.” senior jumper Annika Bynum said. “It is also good to show them what we do and to perform in front of our friends and family.”
Senior hurdler Julia Beck, who is from Pewaukee, Wisconsin — a mere 20 minutes from Marquette — said that being able to have an event at home allows everyone a rare opportunity to come together.
“It is all about community,” Beck said. “I love having the whole team here to support, even the ones who are hurt and cannot travel with us.”
All sports deal with injuries, and the Marquette Invitational provides a great opportunity for injured athletes to attend and support their teammates. Marquette is very community-based, especially in athletics. At the track & field meet, both communities showed up. Various Marquette athletes showed support, like men’s basketball players Stevie Mitchell and Ben Gold, along with women’s basketball player Lee Volker and the entire women’s soccer team.
After the event concluded, Marquette honored the 18 seniors that will graduate this spring. Among those seniors was school-record holder Aaron Hughes. The senior sprinter won gold in 200m with a program record 21.37 second race at the 2025 Big East Indoor Championships and was the first Golden Eagle to win two medals at conference indoors since 2016.
“It means a lot, and everybody showing out, it makes me want to do the best for me and my teammates,” Hughes said. “It means a lot to have a home meet and have support, that is my biggest thing.”
Bynum is another notable loss that the track & field program will suffer this spring. She competed in the high jump in the 2024 Outdoor NCAA West First Round and is a three-time medalist at the Big East Indoor Championships.
“This group of seniors have been great leaders throughout their whole careers, and honestly, it is going to be tough to replace them,” director of track & field and cross country Bert Rogers said.
Athletes were cheering each other on throughout the meet, even throughout the cold and windy weather. Even though track & field is an individual sport, it has a team aspect to it, and that was on display Friday night.
Not only is a hometown meet beneficial for Marquette, but it was also great for the other schools participating in the meet on Friday. Each visiting school is within an hour drive or less from the meet.
“It is fun to get a home meet and nice to get our cross-town rivals together,” Rogers said. “It is a good opportunity to pump up track & field in the city and raise awareness.”
Marquette will now travel to Lawrence, Kansas, for the Kansas Relays. The meet is a three-day event starting Thursday, April 17 and going through Saturday, April 19.
This story was written by Brian Wilson. He can be reached at b.c.wilson@marquette.edu or on Twitter/X. @BWilson75420