Rivers Sets Trio Of Long Jump Records In Day One Of NCAA Championship

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.- Joshua Rivers broke the UW-Oshkosh, Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium and NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship meet records with a 7.95-meter mark in the long jump on Thursday (May 23).

The UW-Oshkosh men's track & field team finished the first day of the 2024 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship in first place with 18 points from first- and second-place finishes in the long jump. Titan student-athletes also participated in the discus throw, decathlon, 4x100-meter relay, 1,500-meter relay, 200-meter dash and 4x400-meter relay.

Rivers (Sr. • Chicago, Ill.) became the first Titan to win the long jump at the national championship and just the third to sweep the indoor and outdoor editions of any event in the same season. He previously took eighth in the 2021 national meet. Matt Groose won both 800-meter runs in 2002 and Dave McLaren won both shot put titles in 1994. Rivers title-winning mark of 7.95 meters came in his third jump where he passed teammate Londyn Little (Jr. • Columbia, Ill.) for the top spot. Little finished with a personal best of 7.70 meters, collecting his first All-America nod on the event.

Gavin Fritsch (So. • Little Chute) made his debut at the outdoor championship with a 47.55-meter cast in the discus throw which netted him a 12th-place position.

In day one of the decathlon, Charlie Nolan (So. • Normal, Ill.) and Aden Sears (Jr. • Eureka, Ill.) competed in the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400-meter dash. Nolan currently owns 3,780 points, which is good for second place and Sears sits sixth with 3,631.

The 4x100-meter relay crew will be competing for a national title on Saturday (May 25) after qualifying for the final round with a third-place time of 40.39 seconds. Joey Kean (Sr. • Middleton), Rashaad Henderson (Jr. • Racine), Little and Dylan Gramley (So. • Plainfield, Ill.) make up the squad.

A two-time All-America in the 1,500-meter run, Steven Potter (Sr. • Oak Creek) grabbed the top spot in the first round at 3:51.49. He will race in the final on Saturday.

Little and Henderson both raced in the preliminary round of the 200-meter dash; Little tied his school record mark of 20.97 seconds and will look to win the title on Saturday and Henderson finished with a 21.54-second time.

UW-Oshkosh's second relay team to qualify for the national championship was the 4x400-meter relay. Henderson, Rivers, Matthew Eiden (Fr. • Stevens Point) and Little combined for a time of 3:13.85, which earned them 10th in the first round, just outside the cut for the final round.

The Titans will return for the second day of the three-day NCAA Championship on Friday (May 24) at 11 a.m. central time. Titans set to compete that did not on Thursday include Isaiah Isom (Sr. • Chicago, Ill.) in the shot put, Caleb Cornelius (Jr. • Racine) and Kyle Wisniewski (Fr. • New London) in the high jump and Davian Willems (So. • De Pere) in the 100-meter dash.