Track and Field brings home five winners at WIAC Championship

Evan Moris, Sports Editor

The UW Oshkosh men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship at UW-Platteville last weekend.

The men’s team finished in second place with 138 points while the women’s team took fifth at 69 points. UW-La Crosse finished first on both the men’s and women’s sides with 184 points and 225.50, respectively.

The Titan men had three first-place finishes in Platteville with Ben Jung in the 100-meter dash, Ryan Powers in the 400-meter run and the 400-meter relay team of Jung, Powers, Robert Ogbuli and Christian Lopez.

Jung led a group of three Titans to finish in the top eight in the 100-meter dash. Jung took first at 10.67 while teammates Ogbuli and Aaron McCarroll-Richardson placed fourth and eighth with times of 10.69 and 10.84 seconds, respectively. Jung also finished second in the 200-meter dash with sprint of 21.59 seconds.

Powers grabbed first place in the 400-meter run with a time of 47.22 seconds. Powers also finished fourth in the 200-meter dash at 21.64 seconds.

The 400-meter relay team beat seven other teams with a time of 41.06 seconds. The men’s 400-meter relay team holds the nation’s top time with their performance at the WIAC Championship.

Ogbuli said being the top relay team is great, but there’s still work to be done.

“To have the number one time in D-III is really awesome, but we can’t let it get to your heads right now,” Ogbuli said. “We still got a job to complete; that’s a national title for our relay. Until our job is done, I don’t like to think about it. To me it’s just another race.”

The Titans had great performances in the 800-meter run as Nick Freitag took second with a time of 1:53.08 while fellow Titans Steven Potter and Justin Skinkis placed fourth and fifth, posting times of 1:54.41 and 1:54.89, respectively.

UWO had four other second-place efforts all in the field events: Jack Flynn in the discus with a measurement of 162-6, Justin Rivers in the high jump at a height of 6-7, Nick Tegtmeier in the shot put with a toss of 53-5 and Jonathan Wilburn skipped 49-1 1/2 in the triple jump.

With their performances at the WIAC Championship, Tegtmeier now ranks 14th nationally in the shot put, Flynn 16th in the discus and Rivers 29th in the high jump.

Jamyle Brantley and Bailey Quinn contributed two third-place finishes for the Titans, Brantley in the long jump with a leap of 22-7 1/4 and Quinn in the hammer throw with a measurement of 179-11.

The Titan women’s squad was led by Lauren Wrensch who won two events in Platteville. Wrensch took first in the 400-meter run, posting a time of 56.19 seconds, and in the long jump, she leapt a distance of 19-4 1/4. Wrensch’s performances last weekend put her as second in the nation in the long jump and ninth in the 400.

Wrensch said she will never get sick of winning.

“Nothing beats that feeling of walking onto that first-place podium. It’ll never get old,” Wrensch said.

Wrensch also had a fourth-place finish in the 1600-meter relay with teammates Alexandra Demco, Lindsay Denu and Taylor Pralle, who posting a time of 3:58.30.

Wrensch said her relay team showed resiliency in Platteville, and they have one final goal for the year.

“[The 1,600-meter relay] was the last event on day two, and putting together one of our better times showed a lot of mental toughness from everyone,” Wrensch said. “However, we are still looking to lower our time even more in the next few weeks and hopefully secure a national qualifying spot.”

UWO women’s team had only one second-place finish in Platteville. Isabella Samuels in the shotput had a throw of 45-9 feet.

The Titan women had five third-place results in Platteville, including two by Hannah Lohrenz. Lohrenz ran times of 2:16.23 at 800 meters and 4:40.11 at 1,500.

The other three third-place finish came from UWO’s Sadie Huth posting a new PR in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.69 seconds, Alexandria Steger in javelin with a throw of 120-7 and Mikaela Zolecki in the hammer throw with a measurement of 165-3.

Huth shattered her previous PR of 15.27 seconds. She said she couldn’t believe what she had accomplished after her performance.

“The feeling I had looking at my time was unexplainable,” Huth said. “I had no words, just true excitement. Seeing everything I have worked hard for come true was just such a blessing.”

The UW Oshkosh track and field teams will travel to Naperville, Illinois to compete at the North Central College Dr. Keeler Invitational on this Thursday and Friday.