Titans' Hectic Weekend Includes Several Impressive Performances
Justin Skinkis and Jonathan Wilburn recorded fourth-place finishes as the UW-Oshkosh men's track & field program concluded a hectic weekend of activity at the prestigious Drake Relays held Thursday through Saturday (April 25-27) in Des Moines, Iowa.
UW-Oshkosh had competitors in three different cities during a three-day period as it prepared for next weekend's Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Outdoor Championship (presented by Culver's) in Platteville.
In addition to the Drake Relays, UW-Oshkosh was represented at Friday's (April 26) Simpson College Kip Janvrin Open in Indianola, Iowa, and the UW-Whitewater Drake Alternative Meet in Whitewater. All three meets were non-scoring events.
Competition for UW-Oshkosh at the upcoming WIAC Championship will be held Friday and Saturday (May 3-4) at UW-Platteville. The Titans finished fifth at the league meet a year ago with 100 points.
At the Drake Relays, Skinkis led three UW-Oshkosh entries in the 800-meter run with his fourth-place time of 1:52.88. The Titans also had Steven Potter finish eighth with a time of 1:53.30 and Nick Freitag 11th in 1:53.73. All three performances rank among the best in the NCAA Division III this season as Skinkis now lists 13th, Potter 20th and Freitag 31st. Riley Bauer of South Dakota State University won the 800-meter run with a time of 1:51.50. The event featured 25 runners.
Wilburn continued his outstanding freshman season by placing fourth among 20 contestants in the triple jump with a measurement of 49-6 1/2. His distance currently ranks second in Division III this season. Jah Strange of Purdue University (Ind.) took first place in the event with a mark of 53-1 1/2.
UW-Oshkosh's Joe Vils added a fifth-place height of 15-9 in the pole vault. He currently ranks second in Division III with his season-best distance of 16-9 1/4. Vincent Hobbie of the University of Central Missouri won the event of 20 participants with a measurement of 17-2 3/4.
The Titans had three other individual competitors at the Drake Relays – Bailey Quinn in the hammer throw, Jack Flynn in the discus and Robert Ogbuli in the 100-meter dash.
Quinn placed 19th among 23 contestants with a measurement of 177-8. He currently ranks 18th in Division III with his season-best mark of 187-7. Kiernan McKeag of the University of Minnesota won the hammer throw with a distance of 220-6.
Flynn took 23rd place with his throw of 150-11. He currently ranks 22nd in Division III with his season-best measurement of 159-0. The University of Iowa's Reno Tuufuli defeated 24 other entrants in the discus with his winning performance of 193-2.
Ogbuli finished 32nd among 33 sprinters in the 100-meter dash with is time of 11.13 seconds. He currently ranks 27th in Division III with his season-best time of 10.74 seconds. Courtney Lindsey of Iowa Central Community College won the race with a time of 10.34 seconds.
In the relays, UW-Oshkosh finished third in the preliminary of the 400-meter race with a time of 41.50 seconds and 14th in the final of the 1,600-meter race with a time of 3:15.16. UW-Oshkosh elected not to compete in the final of the 400-meter relay.
Titans running in the 400-meter relay were Ogbuli, Benjamin Jung, Christian Lopez and Ryan Powers. Members of UW-Oshkosh's 1,600-meter relay squad were Potter, Powers, Skinkis and Todd Beadle.
Lincoln University (Mo.) defeated 39 other 400-meter relay participants with its winning time of 42.07 seconds. Minnesota State University posted a time of 3:13.58 to beat 37 other challengers in the 1,600-meter relay.
At the Simpson College Kip Janvrin Open, Andrew George finished seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Cody Chadwick 14th in the 5,000-meter run with times of 9:31.55 and 15:17.58, respectively.
At the UW-Whitewater Drake Alternative Meet, Jackson Sheckler and Nick Tegtmeier entered this season's Top 20 of the Division III shot put rankings with their performances.
Sheckler won the event of 40 participants with his measurement of 53-7 while Tegtmeier finished second at 52-6. Sheckler now ranks 10th nationally and Tegtmeier 19th. Tegtmeier also finished sixth in the discus with a throw of 142-7.
The Titans had two other second-place finishers as Abel Christiansen ran to a time of 55.94 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles while Jamyle Brantley leaped to a mark of 22-4 1/4 in the long jump. Brantley currently ranks 27th in Division III with his season-best long jump distance of 23-9 1/2. Christiansen also finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.10 seconds.
UW-Oshkosh's other fourth-place finishes belonged to Jack Flynn in the discus with a mark of 153-6, Devin Moody in the high jump with a height of 6-3 1/4, Noah O'Neill in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:12.46 and Avery Van Zee in the javelin with a throw of 148-1.
Contributing fifth-place finishes for the Titans were Jared Benson with a skip of 43-7 in the triple jump, Justin Johnson with a time of 11.16 seconds in the 100-meter dash and Amitai Wheat with a time of 51.01 seconds in the 400-meter run. Johnson also placed sixth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.95 seconds.
Other sixth-place results went to Titans Michael Juarez and Darquise Winters. Juarez and Winters ran to times of 15:42.43 in the 5,000-meter run and 15.50 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles, respectively. Winters also leaped to a seventh-place height of 6-1 1/4 in the high jump.
UW-Oshkosh closed out its top performances with the seventh-place finishes of Nick Engels in the 800-meter run, Joe Kehoe in the 5,000-meter run and Jared Ollhoff in the triple jump.
Engels and Kehoe ran to times of 2:02.89 and 15:43.60, respectively, while Ollhoff registered a distance of 42-11.