The UW Oshkosh men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to UW-Platteville last weekend to compete in the UW-Platteville Invitational against 15 other collegiate programs in a non scoring meet.

The Titans combined for five individual winners between both the men’s and women’s team.

Lauren Wrensch and Alexandria Steger won on the women’s side, while Robert Ogbuli, Ryan Powers and Jonathan Wilburn were victorious for the men.
Wrensch continued her year-long prowess on in the long jump, leaping a distance of 18-11 3/4, out jumping all 43 other competitors. Wrensch is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation in the long jump with a measurement of 19-4.

Wrensch also finished third in the 200-meter dash with time of 25.76 seconds.

Steger took first in the women’s javelin with a throw 133-2. Steger’s throw in Platteville puts her 14th in the nation.

Other top finishers from the women’s team include Mikaela Zolecki in the hammer throw with a toss of 166-1 to take second place, and Taylor Pralle contributed an eighth-place time of 12.62 seconds in the 100-meter dash.

Sophomore distance runner Amanda Van Den Plas said she wants to continue to get better with hopes of helping the team score points.

“I want to surprise myself like I did in indoor,” Van Den Plas said. “Starting with hopefully scoring some points for my team in the 1,500 and steeplechase in the WIAC. Moving forward I hope to gain some bigger PRs in other events like the 5,000 meters as well.”

For the men, Ogbuli took first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.62 seconds defeating the field of 59 sprinters. Teammate Powers finished fourth at 10.87.

Powers finished first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.45 seconds. Powers’ run in Platteville is the fifth best in the nation.
Powers said the track and field has an extremely bright future.

“As a team, we’re mostly young right now, but we have a ridiculous amount of talent,” Powers said. “I think in a few years, this team and the program will be a very strong powerhouse.”

Titan freshman Wilburn won the triple-jump event with the D-III third longest distance of 48-7. UWO’s Jared Benson took fourth with a skip of 44-9 1/2.

Joe Vils and Bailey Quinn finished third in the pole vault and hammer throw. Vils cleared a height of 14-11 while Quinn recorded a throw of 179-2.

The Titans had three top-ten finishes in the long jump as Roman Hill finished fifth with a leap of 22-8, Bryce Mancheski sixth at 22-6 1/4 and Jamyle Brantley seventh at 22-5 3/4.

In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Michael Juarez finished fifth with a time of 10:01.92, while Andrew Strasser placed eighth in 10:22.11.

In the shotput, Titans Nick Tegtmeier finished fourth and Jackson Sheckler finished fifth with tosses of 51-6 1/2 and 49-7 3/4, respectively.
UWO had two other top finishes: Justin Rivers finished fourth in the high jump at 6-4 3/4, and Steven Potter took sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:56.28.

Head coach Justin Kinseth said his team can be as good as any team if they’re willing to put in the work.

“If we continue to focus on our training and raise the bar of expectation year after year, we are going to be something special to watch,” Kinseth said.

UW Oshkosh will compete April today and Friday at the UW-La Crosse Phil Esten Challenge. The meet is set to begin at 11 a.m. on the 18th and will end at 10 p.m. on the 19th.