Titans Finish Second At WIAC Championship, Have Two Champions
Jonathan Wilburn repeated as triple jump champion and Jamyle Brantley won his first long jump title as UW-Oshkosh finished second at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship (presented by Culver's) held Friday and Saturday (Feb. 28-29) in Kolf Sports Center.
UW-Oshkosh, a five-time WIAC team champion, scored 148.5 points to finish as the league's runner-up for the second straight year. The Titans' point total was their highest since accumulating 168 at the 2003 championship.
UW-Oshkosh scored in all but two of this year's 17 events. The Titans counted 24 of their points in the long jump, 18 in the pole vault and 17 in the 60-meter dash.
UW-La Crosse compiled 169 points to capture its 19th straight WIAC title and 45th overall. UW-Eau Claire placed third to the Eagles with 119.666 points, UW-Whitewater fourth with 74.333 and UW-Stevens Point fifth with 64.5.
Completing the team standings were fifth-place UW-Stevens Point with 64.5 points, sixth-place UW-Stout with 46, seventh-place UW-Platteville with 39 and eighth-place UW-River Falls eighth with 2.
UW-Oshkosh entered the championship as the top-ranked program in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's NCAA Division III Rating Index while UW-La Crosse listed second, UW-Whitewater seventh, UW-Eau Claire ninth and UW-Stout 18th.
Wilburn, a sophomore, defeated 22 other triple jump participants at this year's championship with his winning measurement of 49-1 3/4. He won last year's title with a distance of 49-3 1/2. Wilburn set a UW-Oshkosh record with his Division III-leading mark of 50-3 1/4 at this season's Ripon College Red Hawk Opener held Jan. 25.
Brantley, also a sophomore, ousted 22 other long jump contestants with his winning and season-best leap of 23-9 1/2. His distance registered at the championship ranks seventh nationally.
In addition to Brantley, UW-Oshkosh had Roman Hill finish third in the long jump with a mark of 23-3 1/4, Aaron McCarroll-Richardson fourth at 22-11 1/4, Benjamin Jung seventh at 22-2 1/4 and Justin Rivers eighth at 22-1 3/4. Hill ranks 14th in the country with his season-best distance of 23-5 1/4 from the UW-Whitewater Midwest ELITE Invitational held Feb. 15 and McCarroll-Richardson 25th with his season-best mark of 23-1 1/4 from the UW-Whitewater "Squig" Converse Invitational held Jan. 31.
The Titans had three scorers in the pole vault as Joe Vils finished second with his season-best height of 16-1 1/4, Zachary Emmer third with his season-best measurement of 15-9 1/4 and Eli Tranel fifth at 15-3 1/2. Vils ranks eighth and Emmer 15th in the country after their performance at the conference championship while Tranel ranks 13th with his season-best height of 15-9 3/4 from UW-Whitewater Midwest ELITE Invitational.
The 60-meter dash featured three UW-Oshkosh scorers as Jaylen Grant finished second with a time of 6.86 seconds, Adrian Grione fourth at 6.95 and Robert Ogbuli fifth at 6.99. Grant ranks second in the nation and Ogbuli 12th with their season-best times of 6.81 and 6.90, respectively, from the UW-Oshkosh Titan Challenge held Feb. 22 while Girone ranks 31st with his performance from the WIAC Championship.
UW-Oshkosh's Steven Potter earned a pair of second-place finishes with his season-best times of 1:52.70 in the 800-meter and 4:13.41 in the mile runs. He ranks third nationally in the 800-meter run and 11th in the mile.
The Titans also had three other second-place finishes as Jung posted a season-best time of 22.16 seconds in the 200-meter dash, Todd Beadle a season-best time of 49.28 seconds in the 400-meter run and Jackson Sheckler a distance of 56-4 in the shot put. Jung ranks 16th in the country and Beadle eighth with their times from the WIAC Championship while Sheckler ranks sixth with his season-best measurement of 56-5 1/4 from a dual meet against Lawrence University on Jan. 18.
UW-Oshkosh's Cody Chadwick recorded a pair of top five finishes. He placed third in the 5,000-meter run with a season-best time of 14:58.14 and fifth in the 3,000-meter run at 8:36.87. His time in the 5,000-meter run ranks 45th in the nation.
Titan Lochlan Siegmeier also scored in a pair of events as he placed fifth in the heptathlon with 4,734 points and eighth in the high jump with a height of 6-1 1/4. Siegmeier's value in the heptathlon ranks 18th nationally.
UW-Oshkosh also had Andrew George finish third in the mile run with a season-best time of 4:15.35, Nick Tegtmeier third in the shot put with a season-best measurement of 55-9 1/4, Joshua Jones fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 45-3 1/2 and Ethan Burch seventh in the 400-meter run with a time of 49.81 seconds. Tegtmeier ranks ninth and George 25th nationally after their performances at the WIAC Championship while Burch ranks 26th in the country from a season-best time of 49.65 seconds at the UW-Oshkosh Early Bird Invitational held Dec. 7 and Jones 38th from a season-best mark of 46-4 1/4 in a dual meet against Lawrence University.
UW-Oshkosh finished fifth in the distance medley relay as Nick Engels, Bo Koehn, Noah O'Neill and Andrew Strasser posted a time of 10:36.29. The Titans placed sixth in the 1,600-meter relay as Koehn, Potter, Evan Wendland and Amitai Wheat registered a time of 3:23.99.
UW-Oshkosh will perform in last chance national qualifiers at Carthage College on Friday (March 6) and UW-Stevens Point on Saturday (March 7) before participating at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championship on March 13-14 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
2020 WIAC Men's & Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship Program