Titans Tune Up For NCAA Championship

UW-Oshkosh's Devan Gertschen and the Titans' 1,600-meter relay team both improved their seeds for the NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championship during national qualifying meets on Thursday (May 19) in La Crosse and Rock Island, Ill.

Gertschen improved his national seed to 16th among 20 competitors in the pole vault with a winning height of 16-1 3/4 at the UW-La Crosse Invitational.

UW-Oshkosh's 400-meter relay squad of Naji Allan, Kallen Bentz, Christian Lopez and Ryan Powers produced the top time of 3:13.24 in La Crosse to move up to ninth among the 12 teams that qualified for the NCAA meet.

Allan and Danny Trimner also claimed titles at the UW-La Crosse Invitational in the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter hurdles, respectively. Allan ran to a time of 10.69 seconds while Trimner finished in 53.06.

The Titans also received top-four finishes at the UW-La Crosse Invitational from Garrison Griest in the 400-meter hurdles, Hunter Effa in the long jump and Lopez in the 100-meter dash.

Griest completed his race with a second-place time of 54.58 seconds, Effa with a third-place measurement of 22-9 and Lopez with a fourth-place time of 10.84 seconds.

Zachary Baehman rounded out UW-Oshkosh's top-four showings on Thursday with a fourth-place effort in the shot put with a distance of 55-8 1/2 at the Augustana College Twilight Invitational in Rock Island.

UW-Oshkosh ends the season at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship on May 26-28 in Waverly, Iowa.