Titans Begin Season With Second-Place Finish

Jordan Carpenter ranked second among 133 runners to help the UW-Oshkosh men's cross country team open its 2015 season with a third-place finish at the Midwest Open held Saturday (Sept. 12) in Somers.

Host and NCAA Division II UW-Parkside won the 11-team meet with 35 points. The Rangers owned four of the top eight individual finishers, including Jake Dubnicka who completed the 8,000-meter course in a winning time of 25:39.

UW-La Crosse finished second in the team standings with 60 points, while UW-Oshkosh placed third with 63, NCAA Division II Michigan Tech fourth with 139, NCAA Division II Winona State University (Minn.) fifth with 140 and NCAA Division I UW-Green Bay sixth with 194.

Carpenter, who recorded previous Midwest Open finishes of ninth in 2014, 25th in 2013 and 32nd in 2011, finished second this year with a time of 25:49. He was the lone UW-Oshkosh runner to place in the top 10.

Armando Torres of UW-Parkside finished third among the individual competitors with a time of 25:54, while Mitchell Bilitz of UW-Green Bay placed fourth in 25:58 and Gabe Poser of UW-Parkside fifth in 26:00.

UW-Oshkosh received team scoring from Charlend Howard's 13th-place time of 26:15, Wal Khat's 15th-place time of 26:26, Roberto Lara's 17th-place time of 26:26 and Joe Zack's 20th-place time of 26:35.

Other UW-Oshkosh runners in the top 100 were 22nd-place Tyler Miletti in 26:39, 29th-place Brian McKnight in 26:54, 39th-place Justin Skinkis in 27:18, 70th-place Mitch Pauers in 28:05, 71st-place Trevor Damkot in 28:11, 73rd-place Dan Massey in 28:17, 78th-place Derrick Rufer in 28:24, 87th-place Fabian Salinas in 28:46, 99th-place Kyle Peotter in 29:21 and 100th-place Nathan Nozzi in 29:23.

Next Saturday (Sept. 19), UW-Oshkosh competes at the Ripon College Invitational in Green Lake.