Titans Tower Above Competitors At Tadd Metzger Invitational

The UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team recorded eight first-, six second- and eight third-place finishes to easily win the Carthage College Tadd Metzger Invitational held Friday and Saturday (Jan. 25-26) in Kenosha.

UW-Oshkosh beat 11 other programs with its winning score of 240.5 points. The Titans, ranked second in the NCAA Division III by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, were immediately followed in the team listings by second-place Carthage College with 141 points and third-place Carroll University with 84.

Concluding the top six teams were fourth-place Aurora University (Ill.) with 56.33 points, fifth-place Wheaton College (Ill.) with 55.5 and sixth-place Milwaukee School of Engineering with 34.66.

Seven different Titans won individual events, including Jonathan Wilburn in the triple jump and Joe Vils in the pole vault.

Wilburn recorded a distance of 47-7 3/4 to defeat 12 other contestants and duplicate his previous triple jump measurement that still ranks second in Division III this season. Wilburn marked his initial performance of 47-7 3/4 at the UW-Oshkosh Early Bird Invitational held Dec. 1.

Vils established the fifth-best pole vault height in Division III this season with his measurement of 16-0 3/4. His winning effort defeated 15 other participants.

UW-Oshkosh also had John Ford defeat 12 other entries with his time of 7.97 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles, Benjamin Jung oust 49 other runners with his time of 6.51 seconds in the 55-meter dash, Steven Potter beat 27 other competitors with his time of 1:58.45 in the 800-meter run, Denzel Thomas conquer 52 other participants with his time of 22.94 seconds in the 200-meter dash and Darquise Winters defeat four other contestants in the heptathlon with a figure of 3,889 points.

The Titans also won the 1,600-meter relay as Todd Beadle, Nick Freitag, Ryan Powers and Amitai Wheat outran 18 other quartets with their time of 3:23.10.

UW-Oshkosh's second-place mentions belonged to Beadle with a time of 51.18 seconds in the 400-meter run, Freitag with a time of 1:59.20 in the 800-meter run, Roman Hill with a leap of 22-7 3/4, Christian Lopez with a time of 6.58 seconds in the 55-meter dash, Devin Moody with a height of 6-4 3/4 in the high jump and Bailey Quinn with a distance of 57-9 1/2 in the 35-pound weight throw.

Jamyle Brantley owned two of UW-Oshkosh's third-place finishes with his measurements of 22-7 in the long jump and 44-9 1/2 in the triple jump.

The Titans also had third-place performances of 6.62 seconds in the 55-meter dash from Thomas, 3,568 points in the heptathlon from Michael Hartman, 51-0 in the 35-pound weight throw from Jason Myrick, 6-4 3/4 in the high jump from Justin Rivers and 46-9 in the shot put from Nick Tegtmeier.

Earning fourth-place results for UW-Oshkosh were Moody in the long jump with a leap of 21-7 1/4, Powers in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.66 seconds, Nick Engels in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:01.80, Michael Juarez in the mile run with a time of 4:38.26 and Adam Tallman in the triple jump with a skip of 43-3 3/4.

Placing fifth for the Titans were Jared Benson in the triple jump with a distance of 42-10 3/4 and Kunmi Olatunde in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.52 seconds.

UW-Oshkosh received sixth-place efforts from Jung in the long jump with a mark of 21-4, Wheat in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.73 seconds, Abel Christiansen in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.54 seconds, Jack Malloy with a throw of 44-9 1/2 in the shot put and Jared Ollhof with a distance measurement of 42-10 1/4 in the triple jump. 

A trio of Titans finished seventh as Christiansen posted a time of 23.63 seconds in the 200-meter dash, Quinn a mark of 44-7 in the shot put and Noah Bruehl a time of 4:39.44 in the mile run.

The Titans' Skyler Yunk contributed an eighth-place time of 2:02.96 in the 800-meter run.

UW-Oshkosh had two other place-winning performances in the 1,600-meter relay as Potter, Thomas, Justin Johnson and Justin Skinkis finished third with a time of 3:31.41 while Bruehl, Engels, Noah O'Neill and Andrew Strasser finished eighth with a time of 3:39.91.

The Titans will compete next Saturday (Feb. 2) at the Ripon College Invitational.