Titans Have Two Event Champions At WIAC Outdoor Championship
Devan Gertschen successfully defended his pole vault title and Ryan Powers broke a 37-year-old school record with his victory in the 400-meter run as UW-Oshkosh finished fifth at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championship (presented by Culver's) held Friday and Saturday (May 4-5) in River Falls.
Gertschen defeated 17 other contestants in the pole vault with his season-best height of 16-8 3/4. His winning measurement ranks as the fifth highest in the NCAA Division III this outdoor season. Gertschen, the first multiple WIAC pole vault champion in UW-Oshkosh history, won last year's title with a height of 16-0 3/4.
UW-Stout's Noah Zastrow finished second in the pole vault at this year's championship with a measurement of 16-4 3/4 and UW-Oshkosh's Joe Vils third at 16-0 3/4.
Powers, who finished second in the 400-meter run at last year's championship, outran 24 other competitors in this year's race with his winning time of 47.45 seconds. His performance broke a UW-Oshkosh record that Franklin Cumberbatch established with a time of 47.55 seconds in 1981 and ranks as the second fastest in the NCAA Division III this outdoor season. Powers is UW-Oshkosh's first WIAC 400-meter run champion since Reid Zanoya in 2013.
Powers also finished sixth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.92 seconds and joined Robert Ogbuli, Nolan Peterson and Erik Schwandt in registering a fourth-place time of 42.11 seconds in the 400-meter relay.
UW-Eau Claire's KJ Munn and Dietrich Schwoerer finished second and third in the 400-meter run at this year's championship with times of 48.00 and 48.18 seconds, respectively, and UW-Oshkosh's Todd Beadle sixth in 49.36.
UW-La Crosse scored 190 points to win the team title for the 30th straight year and 54th time overall. UW-Whitewater finished second to the Eagles with 155.5 points and UW-Platteville third with 119.
UW-Stout placed fourth in the team standings with 109 points, UW-Oshkosh fifth with 100, UW-Eau Claire sixth with 77, UW-Stevens Point seventh with 60 and UW-River Falls eighth with 8.5.
UW-Oshkosh's Bryce Mancheski finished second in the long jump at this year's championship with a distance of 23-8. UW-La Crosse's Jacob Teunas won the event with a measurement of 23-11 3/4.
The Titans had four other third-place finishers as Joe Zack recorded a time of 3:52.69 in the 1,500-meter run and Jared Benson in the javelin, Jordan Boyd in the high jump and Bailey Quinn in the hammer throw marked measurements of 170-11, 6-6 3/4 and 183-11, respectively.
Taking fourth place for UW-Oshkosh were Schwandt in the 100-meter dash and Cody Chadwick in the 10,000-meter run. Schwandt sprinted to a time of 10.63 seconds while Chadwick ran to a performance of 32:17.97. Chadwick also ranked eighth in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:35.80.
A trio of Titans finished fifth as times of 1:54.28 were established by Nick Freitag in the 800-meter run, 15.27 seconds by Garrison Griest in the 110-meter hurdles and 9:42.43 by Jacob Rost in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
UW-Oshkosh's Jack Flynn finished sixth in the discus with a distance of 161-6 and Carson Weber seventh in the high jump and eighth in the long jump with measurements of 6-2 3/4 and 22-9 1/4, respectively.
Titan Mitch Pauers added an eighth-place time of 1:54.91 in the 800-meter run.
UW-Oshkosh's 1,600-meter relay team of Beadle, Freitag, Pauers and Bailey Gesteland finished seventh with a time of 3:22.41.
Ernest Winters of UW-La Crosse was named the meet's Top Track Performer while Sam Elsner of UW-Stout was chosen as the meet's Top Field Performer. UW-La Crosse's Josh Buchholtz was selected as the WIAC's Outdoor Coach of the Year.