The UW Oshkosh men’s and women’s track teams had a busy week last week, with athletes competing at both the University of Michigan’s Silverston Invitational on Friday and UWO’s Titan Challenge the following day.

Silverston Invitational

The Titans had a solid showing in Ann Arbor, competing against a handful of Division-I schools. UWO had nine top-10 finishers on the women’s team and six on the men’s. UWO’s best women’s finish came from sophomore jumper Cara Volz, whose 36-3 measurement in the triple jump was good enough to earn third place. Freshman sprinter Erik Schwandt led the men’s team with a second-place finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.90 seconds.

Junior sprinter Olivia Seeley said competing against larger schools offered the team a unique experience.

“It was cool competing against other big schools and being able to have the opportunity to compete against D-I schools,” Seeley said.

Titan Challenge

UWO made sure to bring its success in Michigan back home for the Titan Challenge, which saw the men take first and women take second at the Titans’ home meet.

A pair of Titans made their way to the top of the podium Saturday en route to beating conference rivals UW-Eau Claire and UW-Whitewater. Sophomore Jordan Boyd took home first in the high jump with a height of 6-8 1/4, and freshman Robert Ogbuli won the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.10 seconds.

Multiple Titan women also found themselves in familiar territory perched at the top of the standings. Senior sprinter Emily Reichenberger won the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.84 seconds and junior distance runner Cheyenne Moore took first in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:48.11. Volz, in addition to her third-place finish in the triple jump, won the 60-meter hurdles.

Head coach Justin Kinseth said his team’s strong performance on its home track showed him it is right where it needs to be at this stage in the season.

“We’re focused,” Kinseth said. “Seeing that at the Titan Challenge and being at a home meet was a big boost for us to go into this week.”

The big boost Kinseth is referring to could benefit the team this weekend at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships in Stevens Point on Feb. 23-24. The men and women will both be looking to end their conference championship droughts as they have not won since 2001 and 2012, respectively.

Junior sprinter Ryan Powers, who is ranked top-5 nationally in both the 200 and 400-meter dashes, believes his team is hitting their stride at the right time.

“From seeing in practice what we’re doing and from these last few meets, we’ve all been starting to build up,” Powers said. “Our [personal records] are getting better and better and better, and this is the meet that we’re supposed to really perform well, and so I think between this or the next week and going into nationals, we’re all going to just be performing out of our minds.”