NCAA Men's Championship To Include Four Titans

Devan Gertschen, Ryan Powers and Danny Trimner will all represent UW-Oshkosh at the NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championship for the second straight year following their selections to the 44th edition of the event on Sunday (May 21).

Competition, which features 20 entrants in each of the 19 individual events and 16 participants in each of the two relays, begins at 11:30 a.m. (EDT) on both Thursday (May 25) and Friday (May 26) and at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday (May 27) at the SPIRE Track & Field Institute in Geneva, Ohio. The meet will be held in conjunction with the 36th chapter of the women's championship.

Trimner is seeded seventh in the 400-meter hurdles for this year's championship while Powers ranks 13th in the 400-meter run and Gertschen 15th in the pole vault.

First-time qualifier Joe Zack will also compete for the Titans in the Buckeye State. He is seeded 10th in the 1,500-meter run.

Trimner, a senior, earned his return trip to nationals by recording a season-best time of 52.74 seconds at the WIAC Championship held May 5-6 in Platteville. Anthony Salemo of Rowan University (N.J.) leads the country with his time of 51.33 seconds while Peter Girardi of St. John Fisher College (N.Y.) closely follows at 51.34.

Trimner, who captured the 400-meter hurdles at this year's WIAC Championship, placed 11th in the event at last year's NCAA Championship with a time of 53.34 seconds.

Powers, a sophomore, is back at nationals after posting a season-best performance of 47.92 seconds at the WIAC Championship. Marquis Brown of Texas Lutheran University is the nation's top seed at 47.01 seconds while Ross Denman of UW-La Crosse ranks second at 47.19.

Powers, who finished second in the 400-meter run earlier this month at the WIAC Championship, placed 14th in the event at last year's NCAA Championship with a time of 48.18 seconds. He was a ninth-place finisher in the 400-meter run at this year's NCAA Indoor Championship held March 10-11 in Naperville, Ill.

Gertschen, a junior, returns for another national appearance after leaping to a season-best height of 16-0 3/4 at both the WIAC Championship and Rex Foster Open held April 7 in Whitewater. The top two seeds for this year's national meet are North Central College's (Ill.) Luke Winder at 18-2 3/4 and Monmouth College's (Ill.) Dan Evers at 17-0 3/4.

Gertschen, this year's WIAC pole vault champion, finished 13th in the event at the 2016 NCAA Championship with a leap of 16-0 3/4. Gertschen has placed ninth in the pole vault at the past two NCAA indoor championships.

Zack, a junior, earned his first visit to the NCAA Championship after registering a season-best time of 3:50.27 at the Dr. Keeler Invitational held May 11-12 in Naperville. Isaac Garcia-Cassani of State University of New York at Geneseo is seeded first for the race with a time of 3:42.66, and Jeremy Hernandez of Ramapo College (N.J.) is seeded second at 3:45.05.

Zack was a second-place finisher in the 1,500-meter run at this year's WIAC Championship.

UW-Oshkosh placed 18th at last year's outdoor championship with 15 points. The Titans, who won its lone national championship in 2009, also took home trophies for placing second in 1990, third in 2003 and 2013, and fourth in 2012 and 2014.

Last year, UW-La Crosse claimed its second straight and 14th overall national outdoor title. The Eagles tallied 41 points to outpace UW-Eau Claire's runner-up total of 33. Monmouth College finished third with 32 points, UW-Platteville fourth with 31 and UW-Whitewater fifth with 25.

Rowan University heads into the championship ranked first in the country by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Following the Profs in the rankings are UW-La Crosse in second, State University of New York at Cortland third, Tufts University (Mass.) fourth and UW-Whitewater fifth.

2017 NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championship Website