Titans Conclude Indoor Season With Two Winning Performances

The nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team closed its indoor season with a pair of first-place finishes at the UW-Whitewater Last Chance Meet held Saturday (March 6) in Whitewater.

No team scores were recorded for the meet, which featured representation from all eight WIAC schools.

Jonathan Wilburn highlighted UW-Oshkosh's 20 top-eight finishes by winning the triple jump and improving his NCAA Division III-leading measurement in the event from 48-11 to 49-11 1/4. Wilburn defeated 11 other competitors, including UW-La Crosse's Nick Crary who finished second with a distance of 47-1 1/2.

UW-Oshkosh's distance medley relay team of Noah Bruehl, Reid Marquardt, Andrew Rathkamp and Evan Wendland earned one of this season's top national performances as well. The foursome recorded the eighth-fastest time in the country with their first-place effort of 10:26.11. UW-Stevens Point finished second among the event's four participants with a time of 10:28.93.

The Titans recorded three of the seven fastest times in the 60- and four of the eight fastest performances in the 200-meter dashes.

In the 60-meter dash, Robert Ogbuli achieved the nation's sixth-fastest time with his second-place sprint of 6.88 seconds. Titans Jaylen Grant finished fifth and Joseph Kean seventh with times of 6.95 and 7.03 seconds, respectively. Grant attained the nation's fourth-fastest time in the preliminaries with his run of 6.87 seconds.

Ogbuli also led UW-Oshkosh's list of place winners in the 200-meter dash. He finished third in the event with the nation's 17th-fastest time of 22.39 seconds while teammates Jaylin Boatman placed fifth in 22.48, Rashaad Henderson seventh in 22.54 and Grant eighth in 22.61. Boatman ranks 10th in the event nationally with a season-best time of 22.24 seconds.

UW-Oshkosh's three remaining second-place finishes included the measurement of 22-10 1/2 in the long jump by Jamyle Brantley and the time of 15:43.66 in the 5,000-meter run by Eduardo Neri. Brantley lists third in the country with a season-best long jump of 23-4.

The Titans' other second-place finish came from Adrian Girone, Ryan Potter, Aaron McCarroll-Richardson and Amitai Wheat in the 1,600-meter relay with their time of 3:23.81.

UW-Oshkosh had three other performers enter this season's national top-20 honor roll on Saturday – Jackson Sheckler in the shot put, Mitchell Bradford in the 3,000-meter run and Joshua Rivers in the long jump. Sheckler moved into ninth with his third-place throw of 53-6 1/2, Bradford into 17th with his fifth-place time of 8:38.48 and Rivers into 17th with his fourth-place leap of 22-5.

The Titans rounded out their top-eight listings with Rivers' fifth-place height of 6-4 in the high jump, Ryan Potter's fifth-place time of 1:58.54 in the 800-meter run, Andrew George's sixth-place time of 4:22.67 in the mile run, Girone's seventh-place time of 51.24 seconds in the 400-meter run and Jason Ford's eighth-place time of 8:40.09 in the 3,000-meter run.

George ranks seventh nationally in the mile run with a season-best time of 4:13.64 while Potter lists seventh in the 800-meter run with a season-best time of 1:54.33 and Rivers 18th in the high jump with a season-best height of 6-5 1/2.

The Titans entered Saturday's meet ranked second in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Rating Index compiled by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association while UW-Whitewater was third, UW-La Crosse fourth, UW-Eau Claire sixth, UW-Stout seventh and UW-Stevens Point 10th.

UW-Oshkosh is scheduled to start its outdoor season at the Carroll University Invitational on March 27.

Photo by Steve Frommell, UW-Oshkosh Athletics