Titans Win Metzger Invitational

The UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team won five running events and six overall to capture first place at Carthage College's Tadd Metzger Invitational on Friday (Jan. 26) in Kenosha.

UW-Oshkosh scored 155.5 points to win the nine-team meet. Carthage College finished second to the Titans with 123 points while Wheaton College (Ill.) placed third with 117, Aurora University (Ill.) fourth with 90 and Concordia University Wisconsin fifth with 53. The Titans compiled 22 points in both the 55- and 200-meter dashes.

UW-Oshkosh's Erik Schwandt outran 31 other participants in the 55-meter dash with his winning time of 6.42 seconds. His time converts to a 60-meter dash time of 6.90 seconds (fifth-fastest performance in the NCAA Division III this season) as the 55-meter dash is not a national indoor championship event. Titans Christian Lopez and Nolan Peterson finished second and fifth in the 55-meter dash on Saturday with times of 6.52 and 6.73 seconds, respectively.

Lopez also won the 200-meter dash with his time of 22.47 seconds. Schwandt placed second among the event's 49 contestants with a time of 22.66 seconds and UW-Oshkosh's Bailey Gesteland fifth in 23.34.

UW-Oshkosh captured three other running events as Ryan Powers won the 400-meter run with a time of 49.72 seconds; Michael Juarez the mile run with a performance of 4:26.74; and Lopez, Powers, Todd Beadle and Justin Skinkis the 1,600-meter relay in 3:26.62. There were 31 participants in the mile run, 27 in the 400-meter run and 11 in the 1,600-meter relay.

The Titans also won the pole vault as Joe Vils defeated 19 other contestants with his height of 14-11.

Other second-place finishers for UW-Oshkosh were Jared Benson in the triple jump with a distance of 43-1 1/2 and Bailey Quinn in the 35-pound weight throw with a measurement of 56-7.

UW-Oshkosh also had Joshua Jones finish third in the triple jump with a skip of 42-8 1/4 and both Brandt Beukema and Andrew George fourth with their times of 8.19 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles and 2:03.16 in the 800-meter run, respectively.

The Titans' fifth-place performances concluded with the distance of 21-6 3/4 by Bryce Mancheski in the long jump and the times of 2:03.24 in the 800-meter run by Daniel Massey and 4:33.90 in the mile run by Bennett Krueger.

UW-Oshkosh's Noah O'Neill and Jacob Rost finished sixth with their times of 2:03.69 in the 800-meter run and 4:36.26 in the mile run, respectively.

The Titans compete at UW-Stevens Point's Pointer Invitational next Saturday (Feb. 3).