Men's Indoor Track & Field Schedule Features Four Home Meets, Including WIAC Championship
The UW-Oshkosh men's indoor track & field team will seek to win its own Early Bird Invitational for the third consecutive year when the Titans begin the 2019-20 season Saturday (Dec. 7) in Kolf Sports Center.
The season opening invitational is the first of UW-Oshkosh's three regular season home meets before hosting the WIAC Championship Feb. 28-29. The Titans welcome Lawrence and Marian universities to Oshkosh on Jan. 18 and host the Titan Challenge on Feb. 22. The WIAC later convenes at Kolf Sports Center for the first league championship held at UW-Oshkosh since 2016.
UW-Oshkosh, which finished second at last season's WIAC Championship before placing ninth at the NCAA Division III Championship, also travels to Ripon College for the Red Hawk Opener on Jan. 25 and UW-Whitewater for the "Squig" Converse Invitational on Jan. 31.
The Titans then journey to both the Ted Nelson Classic at Minnesota State University and the Red Hawk Invitational at Ripon College before competing at UW-Whitewater's Midwest ELITE Invitational on Feb. 15.
UW-Oshkosh is the defending team champion at their own Early Bird Invitational and Titan Challenge as well as Ripon College's Red Hawk Invitational.
Rounding out UW-Oshkosh's regular season schedule are NCAA Championship qualifying meets at Carthage College on March 6 and UW-Stevens Point on March 7.
The 2020 Division III Championship is set for March 13-14 at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C.
UW-Oshkosh third-year head coach Justin Kinseth brings back 26 letter winners from last year's team that produced the program's highest conference finish since also placing second in 2013 and best NCAA performance since taking eighth in the country in 2015.
All-Americans Robert Ogbuli and Jonathan Wilburn headline UW-Oshkosh's returnees as the Titans vie for their 20th top-10 finish at the Division III Championship. Ogbuli placed fifth in the 60-meter dash as a sophomore at last season's national meet while Wilburn finished fifth in the triple jump during his freshman campaign a year ago.
Wilburn, the reigning WIAC triple jump champion, is among the Titans' seven returning All-Region performers that include senior Roman Hill and sophomores John Auer and Jamyle Brantley in the long jump, senior Todd Beadle in the 1,600-meter relay, junior Justin Rivers in the high jump, and sophomore Steven Potter in both the 800-meter run and 1,600-meter relay.
Potter placed ninth in the 800-meter run at the 2019 Division III Championship while long jumpers Hill, Brantley and Auer finished 10th, 11th and 19th, respectively. Rivers placed 14th in the high jump at the national meet.
Senior Joe Vils, junior Benjamin Jung and sophomore Amitai Wheat are also back for UW-Oshkosh after qualifying for last season's NCAA Championship, where Vils placed ninth in the pole vault, Jung finished 13th in the long jump, and Wheat ran a leg on the Titans' 1,600-meter relay squad that took 11th.
UW-Oshkosh, the 2009 national champion, has scored points at 33 of the past 35 NCAA indoor meets. The Titans were the Division III runners-up in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2013. UW-Oshkosh also earned top-four trophies in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014.