Titans Settle For Second At WIAC Indoor Championship

Nick Baatz (Sr. • Brownsville), Pete Delzer (Sr. • Oconto Falls) and Donald Klitz (Sr. • Markesan) each won a title as UW-Oshkosh placed second at the WIAC Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship on Feb. 22-23 in Stevens Point.

UW-La Crosse tallied 171.5 points to capture its 12th straight crown. The Titans followed in second with 141, along with UW-Eau Claire in third at 109, UW-Whitewater in fourth at 106 and UW-Platteville fifth at 68.5.

In the shot put, Baatz set a facility record with his distance of 58-10. UW-Oshkosh had six of the top seven finishers, including second-place Lewis Prior (Sr. • Coleman) at 58-1.75 and third-place Pete Delzer (Sr. • Oconto Falls) at 57-0.75. Jeremy Brandt (Jr. • Wausau) followed in fourth with his 54-4.75, in addition to Nick Grosskopf (So. • Weston) in sixth at 53-3 and Zachary Baehman (Fr. • Omro) seventh at 52-4.75.

Delzer added a victory in the weight throw with his mark of 66-2.25. Baatz was right behind him in second with a 61-6.25.

Along with 56 points in the throws, UW-Oshkosh scored 35 in two jumping events. Klitz obtained a height of 6-10.75 to win the high jump. John McCann (Jr. • Elroy) then finished second at 6-7.5. McCann and Klitz now rank 1-2 in the national high jump standings.

Other second-place results came from Klitz in the triple jump at 49-7.25, John Cejka (Sr. • Wausau) in the 400-meter dash at 49.25 and the 800-meter relay at 1:30.15. Klitz's leap ranks fourth in the NCAA Division III this season, while Cejka's time is sixth.

The Titans earned fourth in both the distance medley relay (10:14.24) and 1,600-meter relay (3:22.69). Kenny Halloran (So. • Mt. Prospect, Ill.) also listed fourth in the mile run at 4:15.99.

John Dewitt (Sr. • Oshkosh) scored a pair of fifth-place showings with his 3,000-meter time of 8:35.66 and a 5,000-meter mark of 14:43.79. Kyle Schueller (Fr. • Edgar) then finished fifth with his triple jump of 47-9.75.

Sixth-place performances wrapped up with Joe Brunner (So. • Reedsville) in the weight throw at 57-2.25, Kenny Halloran (So. • Mt. Prospect, Ill.) in the 3,000-meter run at 8:36.82, Lee Robinson (So. • Racine) in the triple jump at 45-10 and Mike Servais (Fr. • New Franken) in the 400-meter dash at 49.92.

UW-Eau Claire's Thurgood Dennis earned Track Performer of the Meet, while UW-La Crosse's Isaac Vazquez received the field award. UW-La Crosse's Josh Buchholtz was selected WIAC Coach of the Year.

UW-Oshkosh has two last-chance meets next weekend (March 1-2) in Madison and Stevens Point.