Titans Break Two School Records In Season Opener

RIPON, Wis.- The UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team started off its season strong at the Ripon College Winter Open Saturday (Dec. 2). The Titans paced the 11-team field with 279.5 points.

Two school records were broken in the first meet of the year. Aden Sears (Jr. • Eureka, Ill.) won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.16 seconds, and Joshua Rivers (Sr. • Chicago, Ill.) jumped 7.55 meters in the long jump. The 60-meter hurdles record fell for the second consecutive season. Elijah Pena was the last to set the record, at 8.21 seconds on Feb. 18, 2023. Rivers broke Shannon King's 24-year old long jump record of 7.44 meters.

The Titans took first out of 11 teams, scoring 279.5 points. They were followed by St. Norbert College (67.5 points), and Carroll University (57 points).

Titan runners collected five more first-place medals in the opening meet. Jake Krause (Jr. • Hortonville) won the mile run with a time of 4:14.88, followed by Cameron Cullen (So. • Kewaunee) in 4:16.29. The Titans continued this strong start into the 400-meter dash, with a top-five sweep. Londyn Little (Jr. • Columbia, Ill.) took won in 49.78 seconds, followed by Rashaad Henderson (Sr. • Racine) in 49.80 seconds, and Nolan Milas (Fr. • Virgil, Ill.) in 51.20 seconds. Cavan Dobberstein (Fr. • Manawa) took second in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.69 behind Sears.

UW-Oshkosh qualified five athletes into the 60-meter dash finals, with Ja'siah Williams (So. • South Bend, Ind.) winning in 6.87 seconds, and Davian Willems (So. • De Pere) taking third in 6.89 seconds. In the 800-meter run, Jett Breed (Fr. • Oswego, Ill.) finished second in 1:59.34, and Nick Vey (So. • Oshkosh) finished third in 2:00.63. Dylan Gramley (So. • Plainfield, Ill.) took third in the 200-meter dash in a time of 22.60 seconds. The Titans also won the 4x400-meter relay in a time of 3:27.20.

The Titans also had a lot of success in the field events as well. Besides Rivers' school record in the long jump, the Titans swept the top-three places in the triple jump. Diego Villalobos (Sr. • Glen Ellyn, Ill.) won with a jump of 14.09 meters, followed by Caleb Wright (So. • Oswego, Ill.) in 13.84 meters, and Ben Lissa (Fr. • East Moine, Ill.) with a 13.53-meter jump. Kyle Wisniewski (Fr. • New London) won the high jump in 2.03 meters. Zach Zirgibel (Jr. • Merton) won the pole vault in 4.90 meters, with Ethan Stukenberg (Fr. • Edwardsville, Ill.) finishing third in 4.25 meters. Isaiah Isom (So. • Lansing, Ill.) won the shot put, throwing 15.62 meters.

The Titans will compete again next week at home on Friday and Saturday (Dec. 8-9).

Written by Alex Bernhardt, UW-Oshkosh Sports Information