Baehman Leads Titans At NCAA Men's Track & Field Championship

Zachary Baehman, Wal Khat and Ryan Powers each earned All-America accolades as UW-Oshkosh placed 13th with 13 points at the NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship held Friday (March 11) and Saturday (March 12) in Grinnell, Iowa.

Baehman finished third in the shot put, Wal Khat placed fifth in the 800-meter run and Ryan Powers was sixth in the 400-meter run. Baehman claimed his third consecutive All-America citation, while Khat and Powers achieved All-America status in their debut collegiate seasons.

UW-Eau Claire won its second straight team title with 53 points. The Blugolds were followed the standings by second-place UW-Whitewater with 49 points, third-place UW-La Crosse with 40, fourth-place Monmouth College (Ill.) with 30, and a tie for fifth place between St. Olaf College (Minn.) and North Central College (Ill.) with 21.

Baehman's toss of 57-7 was bested only by UW-Whitewater's Theron Baumann winning distance of 58-3 and UW-Eau Claire's Alex Mess runner-up heave of 57-9 3/4. Baehman also received All-America recognition for placing fourth in the shot put at last season's national indoor meet (58-2 1/2) and for finishing fifth in 2014 (55-4 1/4).

Khat concluded the 800-meter run with a time of 1:55.91, while Powers finished the 400-meter run in 48.76 seconds. Powers' time was the second best in program history, trailing only Ben Zill's 48.33 seconds in 2010.

Mitchell Black from Tufts University (Mass.) won the 800-meter race (1:52.48), and Jake Mihelich from Linfield College (Ore.) claimed the 400-meter title (47.39).

Also competing for UW-Oshkosh at the Division III Indoor Championship were Naji Allan in the 60-meter dash, Hunter Effa in the long jump, Devan Gertschen in the pole vault and Roberto Lara in the mile run.

Allan matched his school record with a time of 6.86 seconds and finished ninth in Friday's preliminary round. UW-La Crosse's Alex Koenen went on to win the 60-meter dash in 6.73 seconds.

Effa took 10th place with his leap of 22-0 3/4. UW-Whitewater's Robert Starnes won the long jump crown with a distance of 24-2 1/4.

Gertschen's best clearance of 15-7 earned ninth place, while North Central College's Luke Winder secured the pole vault title with a Division III Indoor Championship record height of 18-1 1/4.

Lara placed 12th in the mile-run preliminaries with a time of 4:16.01. Paul Escher from St. Olaf College took first in Saturday's final in 4:10.10.

UW-Oshkosh, the 2009 national champion, has scored at least 13 points at each of the last 16 national indoor meets. A total of 102 institutions were represented at this year's Division III Indoor Championship, including 70 that recorded points.