Titans Crowned Titan Challenge Champion

Kallen Bentz, Hunter Effa, Garrison Griest and Carson Weber recorded a pair of top-eight finishes apiece to lead the UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team to victory at the Titan Challenge held Saturday (Feb. 20) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh, which owned six of the 16 event winners, captured the team title with 170 points. UW-Whitewater finished second in the nine-team meet with 137 points, while St. Norbert College placed third with 79, Carroll University fourth with 48 and Concordia University Wisconsin fifth with 45.5.

Bentz won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.44 seconds and placed fifth in the 400-meter run with a performance of 50.19, while Effa won the long jump with a distance of 22-5 1/4 and finished eighth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.21 seconds.

Griest placed third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.82 seconds and sixth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.88, while Weber leaped to a third-place height of 6-2 3/4 in the high jump and a fourth-place measurement of 21-1 1/2 in the long jump.

UW-Oshkosh swept the top four positions in the pole vault as Devan Gertschen placed first with a height of 15-1, Matt McMullen second at 14-7 1/4, Mitchell Hasey third at 14-1 1/4 and Kevin Caufield fourth at 14-1 1/4. The Titans' Josh Boeder finished sixth in the event with a height of 13-7 1/4.

Other event winners for UW-Oshkosh were Jordan Carpenter, Tyler Miletti and Ryne Scopp. Carpenter won the mile run with a time of 4:20.94, while Miletti and Scopp defeated their opponents with times of 8:42.14 in the 3,000-meter run and 16:01.76 in the 5,000-meter run, respectively.

Running to second-place finishes for the Titans were Naji Allan, Trevor Faldet, Jacob Rost and Danny Trimner. Allan ran to a time of 6.96 seconds in the 60-meter dash, while Faldet completed the 5,000-meter run in 16:07.66, Rost the mile run in 4:23.66 and Trimner the 200-meter dash in 22.79 seconds.

UW-Oshkosh had three other third-place performances as Christian Lopez went 7.04 seconds in the 60-meter dash, Derrick Rufer 1:57.27 in the 800-meter run and Zachary Baehman 54-2 in the shot put.

Four other Titans finished fourth as Jared Benson skipped to a distance of 39-10 in the triple jump, Dakota Griffith leaped to a height of 6-0 3/4 in the high jump, Mitch Pauers ran to a time of 1:58.25 in the 800-meter run and Ryan Paulick threw to a measurement of 52-1 in the shot put.

Adding fifth-place finishes for the Titans were Tyler Brown with a time of 8.84 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, Nolan Peterson with an effort of 7.12 seconds in the 60-meter dash and John Pufer with a height of 5-8 3/4 in the high jump.

The Titans had three additional sixth-place finishes as Trevor Damkot ran to a time of 4:37.68 in the mile run, Bryce Mancheski marked a distance of 20-11 1/4 in the long jump and Bailey Quinn recorded a measurement of 47-4 1/4 in the 35-pound weight throw.

UW-Oshkosh also had a few of its team members compete at UW-Stevens Point's Big Dawg Invitational on Saturday.

The Titans took two of the top three places in the 800-meter run as Wal Khat finished first in 1:55.95 and Nick Freitag third in 1:58.28.

UW-Oshkosh's distance medley relay team of Freitag, Khat, Roberto Lara and Ryan Powers placed third with a time of 10:08.68.

UW-Oshkosh placed seventh in the team standings with 22 points. UW-Stevens Point won the 11-team meet with 148 points, while UW-Eau Claire finished second with 143, Saint Mary's University (Minn.) third with 53 and UW-Stout fourth with 51.

UW-Oshkosh will host the WIAC Indoor Track & Field Championship on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 26-27) in Kolf Sports Center.