Titans Place Eighth At AAE Invitational

UW-Oshkosh finished eighth among 45 men's cross country teams in the Division III Pre-National version of the AAE Invitational held Saturday (Oct. 17) at the Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne.

Hosted by UW-Oshkosh, this year's four-race event featured 1,404 runners from 143 collegiate and club programs. The programs hailed from 13 states – Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

UW-Oshkosh used a pair of top-23 individual performances to place eighth in the team standings with 227 points. The Titans entered the meet ranked 14th in the NCAA Division III by the U. S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Top-ranked UW-Eau Claire totaled 99 points to easily win the meet. The Blugolds owned three of the meet's top four runners, including champion Josh Thorson.

Third-ranked and defending Division III national champion North Central College (Ill.) finished second to UW-Eau Claire with 131 points. Thirteenth-ranked St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) placed third with 174 points, while UW-Stevens Point finished fourth with 212 and 11th-ranked Wabash College (Ind.) fifth with 221.

Rounding out the top 10 teams were sixth-place and fifth-ranked Washington University (Mo.) with 223 points, seventh-place and 32nd-ranked Central College (Iowa) with 224, UW-Oshkosh, ninth-place and 23rd-ranked Augustana College (Ill.) with 262 and 10th-place and 26th-ranked Loras College (Iowa) with 290.

Jordan Carpenter led all 10 UW-Oshkosh runners with his 14th-place finish. He completed the 8,000-meter course in a time of 25:00.

The Titans' Charlend Howard finished 23rd with a time of 25:05, while UW-Oshkosh teammates Wal Khat placed 56th in 25:33, Joe Zack 57th in 25:34 and Roberto Lara 77th in 25:43.

UW-Oshkosh also had Mitch Pauers finish 220th in 26:45, Jacob Rost 222nd in 26:46, Trevor Damkot 251st in 27:02, Brian McKnight 311th in 27:43 and Justin Skinkis 342nd in 28:09.

UW-Eau Claire's Thorson won the individual title with a time of 24:17. He defeated 418 other runners, including UW-Platteville's Ian LaMere, who placed second in 24:24.

UW-Eau Claire's Darin Lau finished third and Ryan Mugan fourth with times of 24:38 ad 24:39, respectively. Ryan Becker from Washington University placed fifth in 24:41.

UW-Oshkosh will host a triangular on Friday (Oct. 23) at the Lake Breeze Golf Club. The venue will also host two other major collegiate cross country meets this fall – the WIAC Championship on Oct. 31 and the NCAA Division III Championship on Nov. 21.