Titans Turn In A Dominating Season-Opening Performance
UW-Oshkosh won 13 of 15 events en route to an easy victory at its own Early Bird Men's Indoor Track & Field Invitational held Saturday (Dec. 7) in Kolf Sports Center.
The Titans accumulated 277 points in their opening meet of the 2019-20 season, six more than the other nine competing programs combined. UW-Oshkosh scored 29 of its points in the mile run, 27 in the 60-meter dash and 26 in the 400-meter run.
Carroll University finished second to UW-Oshkosh with 69 points while St. Norbert College placed third with 56, Carthage College fourth with 41, Ripon College fifth with 31 and UW-Parkside sixth with 26.
UW-Oshkosh made a statement nationally with its winning performances of 6.84 seconds in the 60-meter dash by freshman Jaylen Grant, 49.40 seconds by Todd Beadle in the 400-meter run, 1:53.10 in the 800-meter run by Steven Potter and 55-0 in the shot put by Jackson Sheckler. All four Titans achieved a standard that would have placed them in last year's NCAA Division III Indoor Championship.
Also turning in a national level performance was UW-Oshkosh's 1,600-meter relay team of Adrian Girone, Amitai Wheat, Steven Potter and Ethan Burch. The four Titans combined for a winning time of 3:19.68.
UW-Oshkosh had three other place winners in the 60-meter dash as Robert Ogbuli finished second in 6.95 seconds, Girone fourth in 6.98 and Aaron McCarroll-Richardson fifth in 6.99.
Additional Titans placing in the 400-meter run were Burch, Bo Koehn and Evan Wendland. Burch finished second in the race with a time of 49.65 seconds while Koehn placed fourth in 51.41 and Wendland sixth in 52.24.
The mile run featured UW-Oshkosh's Andrew George finishing first with a time of 4:18.84, Andrew Rathkamp second in 4:25.77, Noah Bruehl third in 4:18.18 and Andrew Strasser fourth in 4:37.90.
Other event winners for UW-Oshkosh on the track were Benjamin Jung in the 200-meter dash, Jason Ford in the 3,000-meter run and Cody Chadwick in the 5,000-meter run. Jung, Ford and Chadwick posted winning times of 22.48 seconds, 8:56.01 and 15:02.77, respectively.
In the field, UW-Oshkosh received winning measurements of 22-8 1/2 in the long jump from Jamyle Brantley, 6-6 3/4 in the high jump from Justin Rivers, 15-5 in the pole vault from Joe Vils and 49-1 1/2 in the triple jump from Jonathan Wilburn.
Also finishing second for the Titans were Wheat in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:58.65, Joe Kehoe in the 5,000-meter with a time of 15:28.15, Mory Bamba in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.46 seconds, Eli Tranel in the pole vault with a height of 14-11 and Colton Wasieleski in the shot put with a throw of 48-8 3/4. Bamba and Wasieleski added fourth-place results of 44-11 in the triple jump and 46-3 1/4 in the 35-pound weight throw, respectively.
Completing UW-Oshkosh's third-place listings were Noah O'Neill and Andrew Muskevitsch. O'Neill recorded a time of 9:25.33 in the 3,000-meter run and Muskevitsch a performance of 15:57.01 in the 5,000-meter run. The Titans also had John Auer place fourth in the long jump with a leap of 21-6 3/4.
Contributing fifth-place efforts for the Titans were Joshua Jones in the triple jump and Jacob Dennison in the 35-pound weight throw. Jones and Dennision recorded measurements of 44-8 1/4 and 46-2 3/4, respectively.
The Titans had four other sixth-place finishes as Sheckler marked a distance of 46-2 3/4 in the 35-pound weight throw, Kunmi Olatunde posted a time of 9.08 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, Lochlan Siegmeier leaped to a height of 6-0 3/4 in the high jump and Adam Tallman skipped to a measurement of 42-4 1/4 in the triple jump. Siegmeier also finished seventh in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.48 seconds.
Finishing eighth for UW-Oshkosh were Anthony Capezio in the long jump with a distance of 20-7 1/4 and Jack Malloy in the 35-pound weight throw with a cast of 43-1.
UW-Oshkosh is off until it hosts Lawrence and Marian universities on Jan. 18 in Kolf Sports Center.