MILWAUKEE – For the first time in the six-year history of the Elevator Pitch competition, the Milwaukee Athletic Department has announced that two winners were crowned at the conclusion of this year's event held February 28. 
 
Ari Miller, a junior from the volleyball team, and Anna Lutz, a freshman from the women's basketball team, both emerged from a field of 17 Panther student-athlete competitors with the most polished and captivating pitches on the night and made it impossible for the judges to declare a lone winner.
 
The department's annual Elevator Pitch competition is a two-part event that includes workshops aimed at teaching student-athletes the value of developing a pitch for use in interviewing and networking. The workshops serve as a warm-up to a main event: a competition where student-athletes give live pitches to a panel of judges, who offer student-athletes feedback and ultimately decide who has the best pitch from all competitors who participate.
 
This year's Elevator Pitch competition was sponsored by Northwestern Mutual North Shore. Alex Marchan, managing director of Northwestern Mutual North Shore, hosted both of this year's workshops on February 7 and February 15 and highlighted a panel of judges during the February 28 competition that included Joshua Hart, Charles Wroblewski, and Megan Resch from the North Shore team.  This year's panel of judges also included Cathy Rossi and Andy Van Sistine from the Milwaukee Athletic Department.
 
Co-winners Miller and Lutz edged out strong pitches from the other top-five competitors (in no particular order) Cailin Kinas, a freshman from the women's cross country and track and field teams; Nick Gilhaus, a sophomore from the baseball team; Sara Jochims, a freshman from the women's cross country and track and field teams; and Megan Safranski, a senior from the women's cross country and track and field teams.
 
Milwaukee Athletics has enjoyed partnering with Northwestern Mutual on the spring Elevator Pitch Competition each of the past six years. The support from Marchan's North Shore team included resources to conduct workshops with Panther student-athletes, judge the competition, and provide incentives for the winners. This year, 25 Panthers representing eight different sports participated in either the workshops and/or the competition, all of whom benefitted from the investment by Northwestern Mutual North Shore to help Milwaukee student-athletes sharpen their professional networking skills.