Titans Win Seven Events, Team Title At Big Dawg Invitational

Amitai Wheat was associated with two winning performances as nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh finished first among eight men's track & field programs at the UW-Stevens Point Big Dawg Invitational held Saturday (Feb. 8) in Stevens Point.

UW-Oshkosh, ranked second in the NCAA Division III by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, scored 209 points to easily surpass UW-Stevens Point's second-place total of 95. UW-Whitewater finished third in the team standings with 79 points while UW-Eau Claire placed fourth with 65 and UW-Stout fifth with 48.

UW-Oshkosh won seven of the meet's 16 events while counting 32 of its team points in the 60-meter dash, 31 in the 200-meter dash and 19 in the 400-meter run.

Wheat outran 11 other contestants in the 400-meter run with his winning time of 51.26 seconds. He also helped Todd Beadle, Ethan Burch and Adrian Girone defeat five challengers in the 1,600-meter relay with their first-place run of 3:19.02. The quartet's time in the relay is the third fastest in Division III this season.

In addition to Wheat, UW-Oshkosh had Cornelius Woods finish third in the 400-meter run with a time of 51.77 seconds and Evan Wendland sixth in 52.76.

UW-Oshkosh's Jaylen Grant won the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.93 seconds while teammates Robert Ogbuli placed second among the event's 28 competitors in 6.98, Benjamin Jung third in 7.05, Aaron McCarroll-Richardson fourth in 7.11 and Eli Tranel sixth in 7.20. 

The 200-meter dash featured Jung defeating 34 other participants with his winning time of 22.37 seconds. UW-Oshkosh also had Ogbuli finish second in the event with a time of 22.58 seconds, Beadle third in 22.71, Burch fourth in 22.84 and Lochlan Siegmeier seventh in 23.25.

Other event winners for the Titans were Roman Hill, Justin Rivers and Jonathan Wilburn. Hill recorded a measurement of 22-5 3/4 in the long jump, Rivers a height of 6-9 1/2 in the high jump and Wilburn a distance of 46-0 1/2 in the triple jump. The high jump result by Rivers is the fifth best in Division III this season. A total of 25 entries were in the long jump, 14 in the high jump and 11 in the triple jump.

UW-Oshkosh also received second-place efforts of 4:22.17 in the mile run from Andrew George, 9:01.81 in the 3,000-meter run from Joe Kehoe, 54-9 1/2 in the shot put from Jackson Sheckler and 15-7 in the pole vault from Joe Vils.

Additional third-place finishes for UW-Oshkosh went to Tranel with his height of 15-7 in the pole vault and Nick Engels with his time of 2:01.18 in the 800-meter run. The heights by Vils and Tranel in the pole vault are the 12th best in Division III this season.

The Titans had four other fourth-place listings as Zachary Emmer recorded a height of 15-1 in the pole vault, Andrew Muskevitsch a time of 9:12.18 in the 3,000-meter run, Kunmi Olatunde a time of 8.74 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and Nick Tegtmeier a distance of 53-0 1/4 in the shot put.

UW-Oshkosh's four fifth-place mentions went to Reid Marquardt with his time of 2:04.88 in the 800-meter run, Jason Ford with his time of 9:15.27 in the 3,000-meter run, Justin Johnson with his leap of 21-6 in the long jump and Adam Tallman with his skip of 43-6 1/2 in the triple jump.

The Titans' list of top-eight finishers concluded with the Colton Wasieleski's sixth-place toss of 50-9 1/4 in the shot put, Joshua Jones' seventh-place measurement of 42-7 in the triple jump, Wilburn's seventh-place distance of 21-0 1/2 in the long jump and John Auer's eighth-place mark of 20-9 3/4 in the long jump. 

UW-Oshkosh will compete next Saturday (Feb. 15) at the UW-Whitewater Midwest ELITE Invitational.