Wilburn Wins Triple Jump At NCAA Championship
Senior Jonathan Wilburn won the triple jump to lead UW-Oshkosh's four All-America performances at the NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship held Friday and Saturday (March 11-12) in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Wilburn captured his third indoor All-America award by winning this year's triple jump competition with a school-record measurement of 50-11. Wilburn, who finished fifth in the event at the 2019 championship, entered this year's national meet seeded first with a victorious qualifying distance of 49-8 1/2 from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship held Feb. 25-26.
Justin Kiefel of Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.) finished second to Wilburn at this year's Division III Championships with a skip of 49-0 1/4 and Shelvin Garrett of UW-Whitewater third at 48-9 1/2.
UW-Oshkosh also received All-America efforts from senior Steven Potter in the 800-meter run; junior Jaylen Grant in the 60-meter dash; and sophomore Rashaad Henderson, junior Bo Koehn, junior Ryan Potter and senior Amitai Wheat in the 1,600-meter relay.
Steven Potter earned his second indoor All-America citation with his second-place time of 1:51.07 in the 800-meter run. Potter was seeded fifth in the event with a winning qualifying time of 1:54.82 from the WIAC Championship.
Ryan Wilson of Massachusetts of Institute of Technology ran to this year's 800-meter run title at the Division III Championship with a time of 1:50.92 while Ben Kuxmann of Millikin University (Ill.) finished third in 1:52.68.
Grant also picked up his second indoor All-America prize. He finished third in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.82 seconds. Grant, the event's third seed, qualified for nationals with his school-record time of 6.72 seconds from the UW-Oshkosh Titan Challenge held Feb. 19. Grant was a sixth-place finisher in the 60-meter dash at the WIAC Championship.
Jalen Leonard-Osbourne of Ithaca College (N.Y.) won the 60-meter dash at this year's championships with a time of 6.76 seconds while Derek Plitt of Adrian College (Mich.) placed second in 6.81.
In the 1,600-meter relay, UW-Oshkosh's quartet of Henderson, Koehn, Ryan Potter and Wheat finished eighth with a time of 3:23.90. The foursome was seeded fifth with a qualifying time of 3:17.18 from the UW-Oshkosh Titan Challenge. It was the second All-America award for Wheat and the first for Henderson, Koehn and Potter.
Rowan University (N.J.) won this year's 1,600-meter relay title with a time of 3:15.56 while Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) placed second in 3:16.79.
UW-Oshkosh was also represented at 2022 Division III Championship by Joey Kean, Londyn Little, Aaron McCarroll-Richardson, Denzel Thomas and Davian Willems in the 60-meter dash; Little, McCarroll-Richardson and Robert Ogbuli in the 200-meter dash; Ryan Potter in the 400-meter run; Caleb Cornelius in the high jump; Leslie Fisher in the triple jump; and Eli Tranel in the pole vault.
In the 60-meter dash, Willems finished ninth with a time of 6.85 seconds while McCarroll-Richardson placed 12th in 6.86, Thomas 14th in 6.89, Little 15th in 6.90 and Kean 19th in 6.993.
In the 200-meter dash, Little ranked 14th with a time of 22.05 seconds and Ogbuli 19th in 22.81. McCarroll-Richardson was disqualified due to a false start.
The Titans also had Ryan Potter finish 12th with a time of 49.72 seconds in the 400-meter run, Cornelius 17th with a leap of 6-5 1/2 in the high jump, Fisher 10th with a measurement of 47-3 3/4 in the triple jump and Tranel 14th with a height of 14-9 in the pole vault.
This year's championship featured 20 entrants in each of the 15 individual events and 12 contestants in both two relays. The top-eight finishers in each event earned All-America honors.
UW-Oshkosh scored 25 points to share 10th place in the team standings with UW-Whitewater. The Titans, who won the 2009 NCAA crown, finished ninth at the 2019 Division III championship before the 2020 and 2021 national meets were canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
UW-Eau Claire and Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) both scored 35 points to share this year's team title. Williams College (Mass.) finished third with 32 points while Loras College (Iowa) placed fourth with 30 and State University of New York at Geneseo fifth with 27.
Rounding out the top 10 teams were sixth-place Carnegie Mellon University, Ithaca College, John Carroll University (Ohio) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with 26 points apiece.
2019 champion North Central College tallied four points to finish 44th among the 63 programs that scored.
UW-Oshkosh kicks off its outdoor season on April 2 at the UW-Platteville Open.
2022 NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship Video Recaps: Day One • Day Two
2022 NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship Digital Program