Titans Dominate Early Bird Invitational
Ryan Powers and Joe Zack won their races with nation-leading performances as UW-Oshkosh opened its 2017-18 men's indoor track & field season at the Titans' Early Bird Invitational held Saturday (Dec. 2) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh scored 240 points in the team competition to easily defeat its seven visiting guests. Carthage College finished second to the Titans with 86 points while Carroll University placed third with 77, Concordia University Wisconsin fourth with 71 and Lakeland University fifth with 26.
Powers and Zack earned their nation-best marks with times of 22.01 seconds in the 200-meter dash and 4:09.21 in the mile run, respectively. Powers set a UW-Oshkosh record with his run, eclipsing the previous school mark of 22.27 seconds established by AJ Hollanquest in 2006.
The Titans had four other winners on the track as Erik Schwandt won the 60-meter dash in 6.99 seconds, Morgan Malm the 60-meter hurdles in 8.51 seconds, Mitchell Kudick the 800-meter run in 2:04.52 and Lucas Weber the 3,000-meter run in 8:46.21.
In the field events, UW-Oshkosh received winning efforts of 6-4 3/4 in the high jump by Dakota Griffith, 14-7 1/4 in the pole vault by Nick Garcia, 22-11 3/4 in the long jump by Bryce Mancheski, 45-8 1/2 in the triple jump by Joshua Jones and 55-11 1/4 in 35-pound weight throw by Bailey Quinn.
UW-Oshkosh swept the top six places in the 3,000-meter run and the top five finishes in the 200-meter dash.
Following Weber in the 3,000-meter run were second-place Michael Juarez in 8:54.40, third-place Dan Massey in 8:58.70, fourth-place Jack Rindahl in 8:59.16, fifth-place Bennett Krueger in 9.12.68 and sixth-place Noah Bruehl in 9:17.58.
Trailing Powers in the 200-meter dash were second-place Christian Lopez in 22.47 seconds, third-place Bailey Gesteland in 23.10, fourth-place Schwandt in 23.10 and fifth-place Garrison Griest in 23.13.
Other second-place results went to the Titans' Todd Beadle in the 400-meter run with a time of 51.82 seconds, Jake Skoien in the high jump with a leap of 6-4 3/4 and Mitchell Hasey in the pole vault with a height of 14-7 1/4.
UW-Oshkosh's Carson Weber earned a pair of third-place finishes by leaping to measurements of 6-2 3/4 in the high jump and 21-2 3/4 in the long jump.
Also finishing third for the Titans were Brandt Beukema in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.86 seconds, Nolan Peterson in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.21 seconds and Jared Benson in the triple jump with a distance of 41-3 1/4.
Contributing fourth-place listings for UW-Oshkosh were Zachary Emmer in the pole vault with a height of 14-1 1/4 and Will Rydzewski in the shot put with a throw of 41-10 1/2.
Other Titans finishing sixth were Josh Jennerjohn in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.28 seconds and Jason Myrick in both the shot put and 35-pound weight throw with distances of 41-0 1/4 and 40-0 1/2, respectively.
The Titans' 1,600-meter relay team of Beukema, Kudick, Malm and Peyton Sherry finished second with a time of 3:38.36.
Running events will be converted this season as the 2018 NCAA Division III Indoor Championship will contested on a banked track at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.
UW-Oshkosh is off until Jan. 13 when it hosts a three-team meet in Kolf Sports Center.