Titans Finish Second At Midwest ELITE Invitational

Jaylen Grant ran, Jackson Sheckler threw and Jonathan Wilburn jumped to a winning performance as the nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team finished second at the UW-Whitewater Midwest ELITE Invitational held Saturday (Feb. 15).

Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) won the nine-team meet with 154 points. The Bears were followed by second-place UW-Oshkosh with 105 points, third-place UW-Whitewater with 91, fourth-place UW-La Crosse with 90.5 and fifth-place Wartburg College (Iowa) with 56.5.

UW-Oshkosh entered the meet ranked second in the NCAA Division III by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association while UW-La Crosse was first, Washington University in St. Louis ninth and UW-Whitewater 11th.

Grant defeated 48 other contestants in the 60-meter dash with his winning time of 6.90 seconds. Grant ranks fifth in the event nationally with his season-best sprint of 6.84 seconds.

Sheckler was one of four UW-Oshkosh place winners in the shot put. He defeated 37 other competitors with his winning measurement of 54-9 1/2 while Titans Nick Tegtmeier finished third at 53-9, Colton Wasieleski fifth at 52-1 and Jack Malloy eighth at 49-11 1/4. Sheckler ranks fifth in the nation with his season-best throw of 56-6 1/4 while Tegtmeier ranks 11th at 54-5 1/2, Wasieleski 23rd at 52-1 and Malloy 39th at 49-11 1/4.

Wilburn remained unbeaten in the triple jump this season by winning Saturday's event of 17 participants with a distance of 49-0 1/4. His school-record skip of 50-3 1/4 measured in January leads all of Division III this season.

UW-Oshkosh had a pair of second-place finishers in the long jump as both Jamyle Brantley and Roman Hill leaped to a mark of 23-5 1/4. The measurement earned by the two Titans ranks ninth nationally this season.

Also finishing second for the Titans were Steven Potter and Joe Vils. Potter ran to a time of 4:22.34 in the mile run while Vils leaped to a height of 16-1 3/4 in the pole vault. The height recorded by Vils ranks fourth in the country this season.

UW-Oshkosh's remaining third-place finish belonged to Eli Tranel in the pole vault. He marked a height of 15-9 3/4, the nation's ninth-best measurement this season.

Taking fourth for the Titans were Andrew George in the 3,000-meter run and Benjamin Jung in the 200-meter dash with times of 8:41.84 and 22.30 seconds, respectively. Jung ranks 13th nationally in the 200-meter dash with his season-best time of 22.25 seconds.

Aaron McCarroll-Richardson earned a pair of fifth-place finishes for UW-Oshkosh after posting a time of 22.62 seconds in the 200-meter dash and a distance of 22-11 3/4 in the long jump. McCarroll-Richardson ranks 22nd nationally in the long jump with a season-best leap of 23-1 1/4.

The Titans also placed fifth in the 1,600-meter relay as Potter, Bo Koehn, Amitai Wheat and Cornelius Woods ran to a time of 3:25.11. UW-Oshkosh's season-best time of 3:19.02 in the event ranks third in Division III.

UW-Oshkosh's place-winning performances (top eight) closed with Ethan Burch's sixth-place time of 22.65 seconds in the 200-meter dash, Cody Chadwick's seventh-place time of 14:58.23 in the 5,000-meter run and Adrian Girone's eighth-place time of 7.15 seconds in the 60-meter dash. The 5,000-meter time achieved by Chadwick is the 37th best in the country this season.

UW-Oshkosh will host the Titan Challenge next Saturday (Feb. 22) in Kolf Sports Center.