Wrensch Leads Titans In Own Invitational
UW-Oshkosh's Lauren Wrensch leaped to a nation-leading measurement in the long jump and sprinted to the sixth-best 200-meter dash in the country at the Titan Women's Track & Field Challenge held Saturday (Feb. 16) in Kolf Sports Center.
Wrensch won both events as UW-Oshkosh recorded eight top-eight finishes to place fifth in the team standings of its own invitational with 42.5 points.
UW-Eau Claire won the 14-team Titan Challenge with 141 points while UW-Stout finished second with 68.5, UW-Whitewater third with 45, NCAA Division II Northern Michigan University fourth with 44 and Carthage College sixth with 38.
UW-Oshkosh entered the meet ranked 11th in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's NCAA Division III Rating Index while Carthage College was 17th, UW-Eau Claire 29th and UW-Whitewater 37th.
Wrensch defeated 41 other contestants in the long jump with her school-record distance of 19-4 3/4, including UW-Eau Claire's Ashley Agrimson who finished second at 18-8. Wrensch, who now leads the list of qualifying performances for next month's NCAA Division III Championship in Boston, Mass., surpassed her own school record of 19-3 1/4 set at the UW-Oshkosh Early Bird Invitational earlier this season.
In the 200-meter dash, Wrensch ran to a winning time of 25.32 seconds. Her run beat 64 other competitors, including UW-Stevens Point's Hannah Mertens who placed second in 25.96 seconds. Wrensch's converted time of 24.94 seconds for the race ranks sixth nationally and just six-tenths of a second behind the nation's leading sprint of 24.34 by George Fox University's (Ore.) Sarah King.
Wrensch also helped UW-Oshkosh's 1,600-meter relay team register the 10th-fastest time in the country. Wrensch, along with Lindsay Denu, Alexandra Demco and Taylor Pralle, posted a third-place time of 3:58.07 (3:54.96 converted) in a race that featured 13 relay squads. Bethel University (Minn.) owns the nation's fastest 1,600-meter relay performance with a converted time of 3:50.31.
UW-Oshkosh had a pair of fifth-place finishes as Megan Leahy leaped to a height of 11-2 1/4 in the pole vault and Breanna Van Den Plas scampered to a time of 2:21.08 in the 800-meter run.
Demco had the Titans' lone sixth-place finish with her time of 2:23.32 in the 800-meter run.
UW-Oshkosh's top-eight mentions concluded with the seventh-place performances of 2:23.71 in the 800-meter run by Hannah Lohrenz and 35-6 1/2 in the triple jump by Danae Prange and the the eighth-place effort of 9.36 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles by Sadie Huth.
UW-Oshkosh participates at the WIAC Indoor Track & Field Championship next Friday and Saturday (Feb. 22-23) in Whitewater. The 13-time WIAC champion Titans are searching for their first league title since 2012.
Photo by Steve Frommell, D3Photography.com