Titans List Second In Preseason National Track & Field Rating Index
UW-Oshkosh, which finished ninth at last year's NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field Championship, ranked second in a preseason National Rating Index conducted by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
UW-Oshkosh earned its listing through a grading system which utilizes each returning athlete's best collegiate result and their overall national ranking.
UW-Oshkosh totaled 156.76 points in this year's preseason National Rating Index. UW-La Crosse ranked first with 167.07 points while University of Mount Union (Ohio) listed third with 113.00, Loras College (Iowa) fourth with 97.51 and UW-Whitewater fifth with 76.40.
Completing the group of top 10 teams were sixth-ranked UW-Eau Claire with 73.09 points, seventh-ranked State University of New York-Cortland with 71.98, eighth-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology with 71.69, ninth-ranked Williams College (Mass.) with 68.04 and 10th-ranked Benedictine University (Ill.) with 64.88.
The Titans began their 2020 indoor season with a first-place finish at the UW-Oshkosh Early Bird Invitational held Dec. 7 in Kolf Sports Center. UW-Oshkosh accumulated 277 team points, six more than the other nine competing programs combined, and won 13 of the meet's 15 events.
UW-Oshkosh resumes its season Saturday (Jan. 18) with a dual meet in Kolf Sports Center against Lawrence University. The Titans will compete in a series of meets before hosting the WIAC Championship on Feb. 28-29 and performing at the NCAA Division III Championship on March 13-14 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
UW-Oshkosh, which shared the Division III title in 2009 and finished second at the national meet in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2013, returns 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 26 returning letter winners 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.
Twenty Titans were listed in this year's preseason National Rating Index, including top-ranked Potter, Wheat, Ethan Burch and Adrian Girone in the 1,600-meter relay (3:19.68). Potter also ranked eighth in the 800- (1:53.10) and Burch 24th in the 400-meter (49.65) runs.
UW-Oshkosh's Jung was mentioned three times in the index – 15th in the long jump (23-4), 28th in the 60-meter dash (6.95) and 30th in the 200-meter run (22.43) while Ogbuli was cited twice – 12th in the 60-meter dash (6.88) and 21st in the 200-meter run (22.36).
The Titans also had Hill list second in the long jump (24-3 1/2), Wilburn second in the triple jump (49-3 1/2), Vils fourth in the pole vault (16-4 3/4), Jaylen Grant fifth in the 60-meter dash (6.84), Auer sixth in the long jump (23-7 1/4) and Sheckler sixth in the shot put (55-0).
UW-Oshkosh received additional listings of 10th in the high jump (6-9) from Rivers, 12th in the 400-meter run (49.40) from Beadle, 12th in the long jump (23-5 1/4) from Brantley, 21st in the 60-meter hurdles (8.27) from Morgan Malm, 21st in the 60-meter dash (6.94) from Denzel Thomas, 28th in the pole vault (15-1 1/2) from Zachary Emmer, 31st in the triple jump (46-0) from Adam Tallman and 34th in the shot put (50-6 3/4) from Nick Tegtmeier.
The UW-Oshkosh women's indoor track & field team ranked 54th in its section of the preseason National Rating Index with 15.15 points.
2020 USTFCCCA Preseason NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field Rating Index