The UW Oshkosh men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the Rex Foster Twilight Invitational at UW-Whitewater last Friday.

The Rex Foster Twilight Invitational was a non-scoring event. Nevertheless the Titans had numerous top performances in Whitewater.

On the women’s side, six Titans captured a first place finish. In field events, UWO combined to to win three of the four throwing events.

In the women’s shotput, Isabella Samuels won the event with a throw of 14.43 meters. Behind Samuels in second and fourth place were teammates Allie Marineau and Taya Fleischman with throws of 12.37 meters and 11.66 meters, respectively.

In the women’s hammer throw, Mikaela Zolecki took first with a measurement of 48.92 meters. UWO took four out of the top five spots.

Rounding out the throwing events for the women was Ally Steger, who took first in the women’s javelin throw with a winning measurement of 38.79 meters.

Other winners from Friday’s meet included UWO senior standout Lauren Wrensch, who won the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.30 seconds. Sadie Huth took first in the 100-meter hurdle with a time of 15.42 seconds. Huth also placed second in the long jump at 4.97 meters.

After her impressive indoor season, Wrensch said her hopes for the outdoor season are set high.

“I would say my biggest individual goal this outdoor season would be to chase a national title in the long jump and to work towards the outdoor school record in the event,” Wrensch said. “I would also like to qualify for nationals in my running events and work towards All-American honors in those as well.”

The UWO women’s 4×400 meter relay teams took first and second place in Whitewater with times of 3:56.61 and 4:15.00 minutes, respectively.

For the Titan men, UWO earned nine first place results.

The Titans controlled the sprinting events across the board. Robert Ogbuli won both the 100 and 200-meter dash races with times of 10.93 and 22.09 seconds, respectively.

Behind Ogbuli in the 100-meter dash were teammates Ryan Powers and Aaron Richardson who finished third and seventh at 11.06 and 11.32 seconds.

In the 200-meter dash, UWO finished with five of the top eight spots. Titans Benny Jung followed Ogbuli in second place at 22.21 seconds, while teammates Christian Lopez placed fourth at 22.42, Todd Beadle in sixth with a time of 22.75 and Justin Johnson rounded out the top eight running a 22.92.

The 4×100-meter relay team of Jung, Powers, Ogbuli and Lopez defeated foe UW-Whitewater by 0.12 seconds with a time of 41.34 to take first despite being the lower seed.

Powers said the team will continue to be successful if they continue to work hard progress forward.

“Our team just needs to stay focused, trust the process and compete every week,” Powers said. “With this mentality I think we can really turn some heads this outdoor season.”

Other individual first place runners for the Titans were Justin Skinkis in the 5000-meter run and Nick Engles in the 800-meter run. Skinkis ran a 15:36.27 while Engles placed first with a time of 1:59.70.

The UWO 4×400 relay team of Steven Potter, Amitai Wheat, Powers and Beadle placed first with a time of 3:22.00.

The final three winners from Friday’s meet were Jonathan Wilburn in the triple jump with a leap of 13.68 meters, Nick Tegtmeier in the men’s shotput with a throw of 15.70 meters and Bailey Quinn in the hammer throw with a measurement of 55.84 meters.

Head coach Justin Kinseth said track and field was meant for the outdoors and his team always has room to improve.

“The indoor season is great in its own right but track and field was meant to be outside,” Kinseth said. “Very confident in our athletes to put together some amazing marks and continue to grow. This squad is young, we have quite a bit to prove.”

The UWO track and field teams will compete at the UW-Platteville Invitational March 12 and 13 in Platteville. The meet is set to begin at 11 a.m both days.