Morgan Malm (left) finished third in the 60-meter hurdles and ran on the Titans' 1,600-meter relay team that recorded a NCAA Division III-leading time of 3:21.12.

Titans' Relay Squad Shines At Squig Converse Invitational

UW-Oshkosh won the 1,600-meter relay to lead its list of performances at the Squig Converse Men's Track & Field Invitational held Friday (Jan. 27) in Whitewater.

Ryan Powers, Danny Trimner, Morgan Malm and Garrison Griest produced the Titans' lone victory of the meet with their NCAA Division III-leading time of 3:21.12. They captured the win by less than one second as Augustana College's (Ill.) quartet of Josh Yamamoto, Alex LaMendola, Kyle Hucker and Isaac Smith finished second in the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 3:21.32.

UW-Oshkosh's Devan Gertschen recorded the nation's sixth-highest height in the pole vault with his second-place leap of 16-0 3/4.

The Titans had four third-place finishers, including three on the track. Malm ran to a third-place time of 8.37 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles while Powers went 22.46 seconds in the 200-meter dash and Justin Skinkis 4:21.26 in the mile run. UW-Oshkosh's Carson Weber contributed a third-place height of 6-4 3/4 in the high jump.

UW-Oshkosh also had Christian Lopez finish fifth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.94 seconds and Hunter Effa eighth in the long jump with a distance of 22-3 1/2.

The Titans earned additional points in the 1,600-meter relay as Skinkis, Nick Freitag, Mitch Pauers and Derrick Rufer ran to a seventh-place time of 3:28.81.

Host UW-Whitewater claimed the team title with 122.5 points. UW-Stevens Point finished second in the nine-team meet with 116 points while UW-La Crosse placed third with 107, Augustana College fourth with 98, Benedictine University (Ill.) fifth with 59 and UW-Oshkosh sixth with 48.

UW-Oshkosh will be represented at both the Pointer Invitational in Stevens Point and the Windy City Rumble in Chicago, Ill., on Feb. 4.