Titans Have Nine All-America Performances, Finish Third At NCAA Championship
UW-Oshkosh received All-America performances in nine events as it finished third at the NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championship held Thursday through Saturday (May 27-29) at North Carolina A&T State University's Irwin Belk Track & Field Complex in Greensboro, N.C.
UW-Oshkosh accumulated 48 points to mark the 27th consecutive outdoor championship that it had scored at least five points. The Titans captured the 2009 Division III outdoor title and finished second nationally in 1990 and third in 2003, 2013 and 2021.
Wartburg College (Iowa) scored 54 points to win its first Division III outdoor title. Defending champion UW-Eau Claire finished second to the Knights with 49 points while UW-Oshkosh placed third, Rowan University (N.J.) fourth with 41 points and UW-La Crosse fifth with 39.
UW-Oshkosh and Wartburg College had 48 points and UW-Eau Claire 45 entering the championship's final event – the 1,600-meter relay. Wartburg College went on to score six points in the relay with its third-place finish and UW-Eau Claire four with its fifth-place finish to overtake the Titans who were not a qualifier for the event's final.
A total of 121 programs were represented at this year's championship, including 78 that scored points. The meet featured 19 entrants in each of the 19 individual events and 14 contestants in both two relays. The top-eight finishers in each event earned All-America honors.
UW-Oshkosh had three second-place performances, one third and two fourth among its nine All-America efforts.
Jack Flynn matched is seed entering the championship by finishing second in the discus with a measurement of 168-2. Flynn, who earned his third All-America award in the event, achieved this year's listing on the first of his six throws. He previously finished fifth in the discus at the 2018 championship and fourth in 2019. Steve Hermsen of Carroll University won the discus competition with a distance of 177-11.
Jaylen Grant was seeded 14th in the 100-meter dash and finished second in the sprint with a time of 10.55 seconds. He qualified for the final with a first-place time of 10.432 seconds in the preliminaries. JP Vaught of Centre College won the final with a time of 10.51 seconds.
Grant earned his first All-America award earlier in the meet by teaming with Adrian Girone, Aaron McCarroll-Richardson and Robert Ogbuli for a second-place and school-record time of 40.57 seconds in the 400-meter relay. The second-seeded group had to run their final alone as they advanced on a successful protest of their 12th-place time of 41.66 seconds in the preliminaries. UW-La Crosse won the relay with a time of 40.21 seconds.
McCarroll-Richardson and Ogbuli were also members of the Titans' fourth-place 400-meter relay team that collected All-America recognition at the 2019 Division III Championship.
Jackson Sheckler duplicated his seed by finishing third in the shot put with a throw of 57-7. The toss came on the fifth of his six throws. It was the second All-America award for Sheckler, who placed sixth in the event at the 2019 championship. UW-Stout's Kevin Ruechel took first place in the shot put with a distance of 59-9.
In the 800-meter run, Steven Potter grabbed his first All-America honor by finishing fourth with a time of 1:52.45. Potter entered the race as the third seed. Mike Jasa of Loras College won the event with a time of 1:51.66.
Top-seeded Jonathan Wilburn skipped to his second All-America award in the triple jump. He finished fourth with a measurement of 48-11 1/2 in this year's competition after placing second in 2019. Wilburn's result came on the first of his six jumps. Ahmir Johnson of Rowan University posted a distance of 49-7 to win the event.
UW-Oshkosh also acquired All-America efforts from Jamyle Brantley and Joshua Rivers in the long jump and Andrew George in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. All three Titans earned the All-America recognition for the first time.
Brantley finished fifth in the long jump with a leap of 23-4 1/2 and Rivers eighth at 22-8. Rivers entered the championship as the eighth seed and Brantley as the 13th. Rivers recorded his measurement on his third jump and Brantlry his fifth. Egypt Page of State University of New York at Brockport won the event with a distance of 24-4 1/4.
George was the fifth seed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and finished sixth with a time of 9:17.88. Matthew Wilkinson of Carleton College (Minn.) was the event's winner with a time of 8:47.39.
UW-Oshkosh was also represented at the championship by John Ford in the 400-meter hurdles, Nick Tegtmeier in the shot put, Denzel Thomas in the 100-meter dash and the 1,600-meter relay team of Todd Beadle, Bo Koehn, Ryan Potter and Amitai Wheat.
Ford finished 17th in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.24 seconds, Tegtmeier 14th in the shot put with a measurement of 49-11 3/4 and Thomas 16th in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.86 seconds. Jake Gladieux of Trine University (Ind.) won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.57 seconds.
In the 1,600-meter relay, Beadle, Koehn, Potter and Wheat placed 10th with a time of 3:14.15. Rowan University won the relay with a time of 3:11.81.
The alternate for UW-Oshkosh in the 400-meter relay was Joseph Kean.
NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track & Field
NCAA Division III Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championship Program
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