Titans Outscore Red Hawks, Vikings In Season Opener

Zachary Baehman and Kallen Bentz won two events each to lead the UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team to a season-opening victory on Friday (Jan. 15) in Kolf Sports Center.

UW-Oshkosh, ranked second in the NCAA Division III by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, scored 143 points to defeat the 80 compiled by second-place Ripon College and the 40 tallied by Lawrence University.

The Titans won 10 of the meet's 14 events, including the 60- and 200-meter dashes where they owned the top four finishers. Bentz won both races with times of 7.06 seconds at 60 meters and 22.70 seconds at 200.

Nolan Peterson finished second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.21 seconds while Hunter Effa followed at 7.23 and Ben Garski at 7.23. The 200-meter dash featured Ryan Powers placing second in 22.80 seconds, Danny Trimner third in 22.89 and Naji Allan fourth in 22.91.

Baehman earned his victories with distances of 55-3 1/2 in the shot put and 50-8 1/4 in the 35-pound weight throw.

UW-Oshkosh also swept the top three listings in both the 60-meter hurdles and 3,000-meter run.

In the 60-meter hurdles, Garrison Griest won the event with a time of 8.64 seconds while Morgan Malm followed in 8.78 and Tyler Brown in 8.81. The 3,000-meter run had Charlend Howard place first in 8:53.35, Tyler Miletti second in 8:53.48 and Jacob Rost third in 9:05.47.

Other event winners for UW-Oshkosh were Devan Gertschen in the pole vault with a height of 15-5, Wal Khat in the mile run with a time of 4:21.15, Bryce Mancheski in the long jump with a distance of 22-3 3/4 and Brett Thompson in the high jump with a leap of 6-2 3/4.

The Titans also placed second in seven other events, including the mile and 3,000-meter runs where Mitch Pauers and Roberto Lara recorded times of 1:58.22 and 4:21.60, respectively.

UW-Oshkosh's Mitchell Hasey marked a second-place height of 13-11 in the pole vault while Carson Weber finished as the runner-up in the high jump with a leap of 5-8 3/4.

The Titans' second-place performances concluded with the distances of 21-10 1/4 in the long jump by Effa, 39-10 1/2 in the triple jump by Jared Benson and 50-0 3/4 in the shot put by Ryan Paulick.

UW-Oshkosh's third-place listings finished with Malm's time of 52.16 seconds in the 400-meter run, Derrick Rufer's time of 1:59.55 in the 800-meter run and Ken Webber's distance of 38-2 3/4 in the triple jump.

The Titans' Matt McMullen and Jack Prescott added fourth-place finishes with their values of 13-5 in the pole vault and 52.60 seconds in the 400-meter run.

UW-Oshkosh competes at the North Central College Cardinal Opener next Friday (Jan. 22) in Naperville, Ill.