UW Oshkosh Long jumper Joshua Rivers and 60 meter dasher Davien Willems will have the chance to compete for a spot to vie for a ticket to Nanjing, China this weekend while participating in the 2025 USA Track and Field indoor championships, which are held in Staten Island, New York at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex.
Per the UW Oshkosh Athletics Website, the semi-final round of the 60-meter dash is set for 1:19 pm eastern time on Sunday and the final round is scheduled for 2:54 pm, while the long jump is set to begin at 1:36 pm on Sunday. All events will be streamed live on NBC, and be available on demand.
On December 7, Rivers automatically qualified after breaking the Division III indoor record, with his 8.13 meter long jump at the UW Oshkosh Early Bird Open/Multi invite which was hosted at the Kolf Sports Center. The 2024 indoor and outdoor D-III long jump champion became the first D-III athlete to pass eight meters with the jump, which would have placed sixth at last summer’s Olympics in Paris, fourth at the 2024 World Indoor Championship, and third at the 2024 NCAA D-I Indoor Championship.
According to Rivers, setting this record and being a two-time national champion shows a lot for the younger athletes.
“It shows a lot of younger athletes [who are] undecided about D-I, D-II, or D-III, that hey, you can do this at any division as long as you have the work ethic,” Rivers said in an interview with Brehme Quidzinski, athletic department multimedia designer. “As long as you have a great program, people to surround you, a great staff. You can do anything your put your mind to. I feel blessed to show, and be an inspiration to younger athletes.”
Willems raced in the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in June after securing NCAA D-III national runner up medals. He enters the championships with a new program record in the 60 meter dash. He reset his own record at the Minnesota State Maverick Premier #1 last Friday, Feb. 14 with a 6.68-second finish in the preliminary round. The sprinter became the third DIII athlete to run a sub-6.70 in the event and owns the third-fastest time in DIII history.
While Rivers will be the sole D-III athlete at the event, joining Willems in the 60 meter will be UW-La Crosse’s Oshkosh native Sam Blaskowski, who recently broke the D-III indoor record with a 6.62 meter jump, in addition to Bethel University’s Landen Liu. Qualifying athletes will compete at the World Athletics Indoor Championship which will be held in Nanjing, China, March 21-23.
