Titans Place Second At WIAC Track & Field Championship
Ryan Powers ran to two victories while Jonathan Wilburn jumped to another win as UW-Oshkosh placed second among eight teams at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship (presented by Culver's) held Friday and Saturday (Feb. 22-23) in Whitewater.
Powers won both the 200-meter dash and 400-meter run with times of 21.88 and 48.20 seconds, respectively. His performance in the 400-meter run established WIAC and UW-Oshkosh records.
Powers entered the conference championship with a NCAA Division III-leading time of 21.83 seconds in the 200-meter dash. He nearly reached that time by defeating 21 other league competitors with his sprint of 21.88. UW-Stevens Point's Calden Wojt finished second to Powers with a time of 21.95 and UW-Oshkosh's Benjamin Jung placed seventh and Robert Ogbuli eighth in 22.47 and 22.56, respectively.
In the 400-meter run, Powers was seeded first in the conference with a school-record time of 48.27 seconds. Powers decreased that time by seven-hundredths of a second at the league championship as he outran 22 other participants with his winning time of 48.20. Powers, who now possesses the event's third-fastest time in the country, was followed across the finish line by UW-Platteville's Alec Burcham. Burcham had a second-place time of 49.17.
Wilburn headed into the conference championship with a NCAA Division III-leading measurement of 48-8 3/4. He surpassed that distance by ousting 23 other league rivals with his new nation-leading skip of 49-3 1/2. UW-La Crosse's Jacob Teunas finished second to Wilburn with a distance measurement of 48-1 3/4 and UW-Oshkosh's Adam Tallman fifth and Jared Benson eighth with marks of 46-0 and 45-1 3/4, respectively.
Joe Vils also scored major points for the Titans by leaping to a second-place height of 15-9 3/4 at the conference championship. He entered the meet ranked seventh nationally with a height of 16-0 3/4.
UW-Oshkosh's four third-place listings featured Denzel Thomas sprinting to a time of 6.94 seconds in the 60-meter dash, Steven Potter traveling to a time of 1:54.49 in the 800-meter run and Justin Rivers leaping to a mark of 6-7 1/2 in the high jump.
The Titans also had their distance medley relay team of Potter, Nick Freitag, Andrew George and Amitai Wheat finish third with a time of 10:23.01.
Contributing fourth-place finishes for the Titans were Freitag in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:55.28, Jung in the long jump with a measurement of 23-1 1/4, Bailey Quinn in the 35-pound weight throw with a distance of 58-5 3/4 and Darquise Winters in the high jump with a leap of 6-3 1/2.
Additional fifth-place results went to UW-Oshkosh's Ogbuli in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.96 seconds and Roman Hill in the long jump with a distance of 23-0 3/4.
The Titans also received a sixth-place time of 6.97 seconds in the 60-meter dash from Jung.
UW-Oshkosh had two other top-eight finishes as Jamyle Brantley in the long jump and Jackson Sheckler in the shot put placed seventh with measurements of 22-5 1/4 and 50-0, respectively.
UW-Oshkosh, a five-time WIAC indoor champion, finished second in this year's team standings with 104 points after placing sixth in 2018 with 73.5.
UW-La Crosse compiled 189.5 points to capture its 18th straight WIAC indoor title and 44th overall while UW-Platteville placed third with 90 and UW-Whitewater fourth with 88.
Completing the team rankings were fifth-place UW-Eau Claire with 74.5 points, sixth-place UW-Stevens Point with 61, UW-Stout seventh with 52 and UW-River Falls eighth with 3.
UW-Oshkosh will perform in last chance national qualifiers at Carthage College on Friday (March 1) and UW-Stevens Point on Saturday (March 2) before participating at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championship on March 8-9 in Boston, Mass.