Powers, Wilburn Headline Titans' Track & Field National Entries

Senior Ryan Powers will run in three events and freshman Jonathan Wilburn is seeded first in the triple jump as 13 members of the UW-Oshkosh's men's track & field team are set to compete at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championship this weekend (March 8-9) in Boston, Mass.

Powers is seeded third in the 400-meter run and fourth in the 200-meter dash. He will also run a leg on the Titans' third-seeded 1,600-meter relay team that includes senior Justin Skinkis, junior Todd Beadle and freshman Steven Potter.

UW-Oshkosh will also be represented by sophomore Robert Ogbuli in the 60-meter dash; Potter, Skinkis and senior Nick Freitag in the 800-meter run; sophomore Justin Rivers in the high jump; junior Joe Vils in the pole vault; and freshmen John Auer and Jamyle Brantley, junior Roman Hill and sophomore Benjamin Jung in the long jump.

Competition at the 35th Division III Championship will be held in the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center. The top 20 individuals and 12 relay teams earned their way to the national meet based on results throughout the season. The top eight finishers in each event at the Division III Championship will earn All-America status.

Powers, who swept the 200- and 400-meter titles at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Indoor Championship this season, is seeking his third indoor All-America award after finishing sixth in the 400-meter run at both the 2016 and 2018 Division III Championships.

Powers, the 2019 WIAC Track Performer of the Meet at the league indoor championship, enters this year's national meet with qualifying times of 21.45 seconds in the 200-meter dash and 47.45 in the 400-meter run. He holds the school indoor records at the 200- and 400-meter distances. Powers is attempting to become the program's first indoor All-American in the 200-meter dash.

Wesley College (Del.) freshman Kai Cole is the favorite to win the 200-meter dash this season with a time of 21.40, while junior defending champion Patrick Mikel from Loras College (Iowa) is seeded first in the 400-meter run with a time of 47.18.

Wilburn produced the country's best mark in the triple jump this year with a distance of 49-3 1/2. Second-seeded Yorai Shaoul from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, last year's national runner-up, had a season-long leap of 49-1 3/4.

Skinkis is seeded fourth in the 800-meter run with a qualifying time of 1:50.33. The 2017 WIAC champion at 800 meters, Skinkis earned All-America accolades as a member of the Titan distance medley relay that placed seventh in 2015.

Potter and Freitag are seeded 10th and 12th, respectively, in the 800-meter run with their times of 1:52.03 and 1:52.17. Topping the field in the 800-meter run is Ryan Wittenberg from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Mass.) with a time of 1:49.89.

Vils is the fifth seed in the pole vault with a height of 16-4 3/4, Rivers is seeded 12th in the high jump with a qualifying mark of 6-9 and Ogbuli is the 17th seed in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.89.

Luke Winder from North Central College (Ill.), the three-time national pole vault champion from 2015-17, heads into the weekend seeded first in the event with a height of 17-8 1/2.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Alec Reduker is the top seed in the high jump with a top mark of 6-10 3/4. Jaevon Hardy from Westminster College (Pa.) is seeded first in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.77.

The Titan quartet in the long jump is led by Auer's eight-seeded distance of 23-7 1/4. Brantley is seeded 14th with a leap of 23-5 1/4, Hill is 15th at 23-4 1/2 and Jung 18th at 23-4.

Hayden Snow from John Carroll University (Ohio) is the top seed in the long jump with a nation-leading distance of 25-1 1/4.

UW-Oshkosh's 1,600-meter relay time of 3:14.33 trails only top-seeded Washington University in St. Louis' (Mo.) time of 3:13.19 and second-seeded Loras College's 3:13.27.

University of Mount Union (Ohio) is the reigning national team champion after scoring 41 points to narrowly edge runner-up North Central College's total of 40.

Completing the top five teams at last year's indoor national meet were Rowan University (N.J.) in third place with 37 points, UW-Eau Claire in fourth with 29 and UW-La Crosse in fifth with 28.

UW-Oshkosh finished in a tie for 28th place with nine points last season.

UW-La Crosse heads into the 2019 Division III championship ranked first in the country by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

North Central College is second in the USTFCCCA rankings, followed by UW-Oshkosh in third, UW-Platteville in fourth and University of Mount Union in fifth.

UW-Oshkosh, the 2009 national co-champion, has produced 12 top-four team finishes, including runner-up efforts in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2013.

2019 NCAA Division III Men's & Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship Host Website