Titans Have Five Event Champions, 31 Place Winners At May/Esten Meet

The UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team entered this season's NCAA Division III Top-20 Outdoor Performance List in 10 of its 31 place-winning results at the UW-La Crosse Ashton May/Phil Esten Meet held Friday and Saturday (April 16-17) in La Crosse.

UW-Oshkosh, which registered five first-, six second- and five third-place finishes, ranked third in the team competition with 148 points. UW-La Crosse captured the team title with 187.5 points while UW-Eau Claire finished second with 152.5 and UW-Stout fourth with 119.

Winning individual events for the Titans were Mitchell Bradford in the 5,000-meter run, Jack Flynn in the discus, John Ford in the 400-meter hurdles and Steven Potter in the 800-meter run.

Bradford outran 44 other contestants in the 5,000-meter run with his time of 14:39.89 that ranks 17th in the country. UW-Eau Claire's Connor Dolan finished second in the race with a time of 14:44.98 while UW-Oshkosh's Andrew George placed eighth in 14:52.40.

Flynn defeated 26 other discus participants with his measurement of 167-1 that ranks fifth nationally. UW-Stout's Kevin Ruechel finished second to Flynn with a cast of 156-10.

Ford won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.61 seconds. He defeated five other competitors, including UW-Eau Claire's Mason Malm who finished second with a time of 56.72 seconds and UW-Oshkosh's Kunmi Olatunde who placed sixth in 1:01.55.

Potter attained the nation's seventh-best performance in the 800-meter run with his winning time of 1:52.01. He beat 20 other runners, including UW-La Crosse's Brian Hansford who finished second with a time of 1:54.96 and UW-Oshkosh's Noah Bruehl and Reid Marquardt who placed seventh in 1:56.93 and eighth in 1:57.48, respectively.

UW-Oshkosh's 1,600-meter relay team of Todd Beadle, Bo Koehn, Ryan Potter and Amitai Wheat was also victorious. The group defeated three other squads and produced a time of 3:17.66 that ranks 11th in the country. Titans Adrian Girone, Rashaad Henderson, Steven Potter and Evan Wendland finished second in the race with a time 3:25.63.

Titan Joshua Rivers finished second in a pair of events after earning measurements of 6-2 3/4 in the high and 23-0 1/2 in the long jumps. UW-Oshkosh's Jamyle Brantley placed third in the long jump with a leap of 22-11 1/4, Roman Hill fourth at 22-3 and Jonathan Wilburn eighth at 21-10. Rivers' mark in the long jump ranks 15th nationally and Brantley's 20th.

UW-Oshkosh's Jaylen Grant was the runner-up in the 100-meter dash with his time of 10.68 seconds. Titans Robert Ogbuli finished third with a time of 10.72 seconds, Denzel Thomas fourth in 10.76 and Girone seventh in 10.89. Ogbuli ranks ninth in country following his sprint and Thomas 17th. Grant ranks fifth nationally in the event with his time of 10.60 seconds that was recorded at the UW-Whitewater Rex Foster Twilight Invitational held April 2.

In the shot put, UW-Oshkosh's Jackson Sheckler posted the nation's sixth-best measurement with his second-place throw of 55-6 1/2 while Nick Tegtmeier finished sixth with a mark of 50-4 1/2.

UW-Oshkosh's 400-meter relay team of Grant, Ogbuli, Joey Kean and Aaron McCarroll-Richardson also finished second. The foursome combined for a time of 41.18 seconds that ranks third nationally.

Other UW-Oshkosh third-place listings went to McCarroll-Richardson with his time of 22.09 seconds in the 200-meter dash, Ryan Potter with his time of 48.93 seconds in the 400-meter run and Joshua Jones in the triple jump with his skip of 44-9 3/4. 

Also finishing fourth for the Titans were Beadle with his time of 48.96 seconds in the 400-meter run and Matt Dorenkamper with his distance of 105-11 in the javelin. 

UW-Oshkosh additionally received sixth-place times of 22.42 seconds in the 200-meter dash from Henderson, 16.04 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles from Olatunde and 49.41 seconds in the 400-meter run from Wheat.

The Titans concluded their list of place winners with Koehn's seventh-place time of 49.97 seconds in the 400-meter run and Jacob Dennison's eighth-place measurement of 150-6 in the hammer throw.

UW-Oshkosh competes at the St. Norbert College Invitational next Saturday (April 24) in De Pere.

Photo courtesy of Jim Lund