Titans Open Outdoor Track & Field Season In Whitewater
UW-Oshkosh's quest for another top-20 national finish begins when it opens its men's outdoor track & field season at the Rex Foster Invitational on Friday (April 7) in Whitewater.
Last year, UW-Oshkosh finished 18th with 15 points at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship. The finish marked the Titans' 26th top-20 outdoor result in program history. UW-Oshkosh also placed third at last year's WIAC Outdoor Championship with 130 points.
Following the season opener in Whitewater, UW-Oshkosh will compete at the UW-Platteville Invitational on April 13-14 before heading to La Crosse for the Phil Esten Challenge on April 20-21. The Titans were the runners-up at both the Rex Foster Invitational and the Phil Esten Challenge a year ago.
UW-Oshkosh will travel to the prestigious Drake and Gina relays on April 28-29. The Drake Relays are held in Des Moines, Iowa, while the Gina Relays are contested in Hillsdale, Mich. Titans not competing at the relays will travel to the UW-Whitewater Drake Alternative Meet on April 29.
The WIAC Championship will be conducted May 5-6 in Platteville.
In the lead up to the NCAA Championship, UW-Oshkosh student-athletes will compete at the Dr. Keeler Invitational in Naperville, Ill., on May 11-12; the UW-La Crosse Eagle Open on May 12; the Gregory Invitational in Naperville on May 17-18; and the UW-La Crosse Invitational on May 18.
The Division III Championship will be held May 25-27 in Geneva, Ohio.
UW-La Crosse claimed last year's WIAC and NCAA Division III titles. The Eagles, who scored 41 points to win their second straight national championship, were followed in the NCAA listings by second-place UW-Eau Claire with 33 points, third-place Monmouth College (Ill.) with 32, fourth-place UW-Platteville with 31 and fifth-place UW-Whitewater with 25.
At last year's WIAC Championship, UW-La Crosse tallied 201 points to easily outpace UW-Whitewater's second-place total of 141.5.
Rounding out the WIAC Championship results were third-place UW-Oshkosh, fourth-place UW-Platteville with 116, fifth-place UW-Stevens Point with 80, sixth-place UW-Eau Claire with 76, seventh-place UW-Stout with 56 and eighth-place UW-River Falls with 17.5.
Expected to lead the Titans this season are returning All-Americans Roberto Lara, Christian Lopez, Ryan Powers and Danny Trimner.
Lara finished eighth in the 1,500-meter run at last year's NCAA Championship, while Lopez and Powers were members of the Titans' six-place 400-meter relay team. Trimner helped UW-Oshkosh place seventh in the 1,600-meter relay at the 2015 championship.
Trimner also ran a leg on UW-Oshkosh's 1,600-meter relay squads that won WIAC titles in 2015 and 2016. Powers and Garrison Griest were members of last season's 1,600-meter relay league championship team, while Lara secured the conference's 1,500-meter crown a year ago.
UW-Oshkosh, which won the national outdoor title in 2009, has finished among the top three teams at the WIAC Championship 17 times in the past 19 years. The Titans own seven conference outdoor titles, including the most recent in 1990.