Titans Claim Red Hawk Opener Title
Competing for the first time since mid-December, UW-Oshkosh won five individual events and a relay at the Ripon College Men's Track & Field Red Hawk Opener Saturday (Jan. 22) in Ripon.
UW-Oshkosh totaled 31 top-eight finishes to easily capture the team title with 158.5 points. Carroll University placed second in the 12-team meet with 89.25 points while St. Norbert College finished third with 73.5, Aurora University (Ill.) fourth with 59 and Ripon College fifth with 51.25.
The Titans owned the top five finishers in the 200-meter dash, including Adrian Girone who won the event with a time of 22.82 seconds. Titans Rashaad Henderson finished second in the race with a time of 22.85 seconds, Bo Koehn third at 23.43, Payton White fourth at 23.47 and Evan Wendland fifth at 23.54.
UW-Oshkosh had four of the top six performances in the 60-meter dash as Joey Kean finished second in 6.98 seconds, Denzel Thomas third at 7.04, Girone fifth at 7.10 and Jaylin Boatman sixth at 7.11.
Aden Sears paced four UW-Oshkosh placewinners in the 400-meter run with his victorious time of 51.01 seconds. The Titans also had Aaron McCarroll-Richardson finish second with a time of 51.04 seconds, Dwight Hosni sixth at 52.52 and Richard Bosshart eighth at 53.77.
Other Titans winning events were Aaron Kiela with his time of 8.71 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, Eli Tranel with his height of 15-11 in the pole vault and Jonathan Wilburn with his distance of 48-8 1/4 in the triple jump. The measurements earned by Wilburn in the triple jump and Tranel in the pole vault rank second and fourth in the NCAA Division III this indoor season, respectively.
UW-Oshkosh's 1,600-meter relay squad of Boatman, Koehn, Thomas and Robert Ogbuli took first place its time of 3:30.55. The Titans had two other placewinners in the event as Henderson, Wendland, Jaylen Grant and Elijah Pena finished third with their time of 3:32.33 while Hosni, Reid Marquardt, John Thill and Cody Witthun placed fifth at 3:34.29.
UW-Oshkosh had three other third-place finishers – Jamyle Brantley in the long jump with a leap of 22-6 1/2, Leslie Fisher in the triple jump with a skip of 47-2 1/4 and Jacob Dennison in the 35-pound weight throw with a toss of 50-3 1/2. Fisher's mark in the triple jump ranks 10th nationally.
Contributing fourth-place finishes for the Titans were Thill in the mile run with a time of 4:37.76 and Matthew Dorenkamper in the shot put with a distance of 42-2.
Other fifth-place results went to UW-Oshkosh's Julien Harden in the high jump with a height of 6-1 1/4 and Weston Lerdal in the 60-meter dash with a time of 9.54 seconds.
UW-Oshkosh also received a fifth-place measurement of 45-7 in the 35-pound weight throw from Jack Malloy and seventh-place performances of 45-3 3/4 in the 35-pound weight throw from Dorenkamper, 4:42.12 in the mile run from Ryan Dolnik, 5-11 1/4 in the high jump from Neal McCourt and 20-10 in the long jump from Payton White.
The Titans perform at the UW-Whitewater "Squig" Converse Invitational on Friday (Jan. 28).
Photo by Steve Frommell, UW-Oshkosh Athletics