University Of Wisconsin-La Crosse Dominates
NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track And Field Championship

Using a balanced attack with 23 athletes competing, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse captured the team title at the NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship held Thursday (May 24) through Saturday (May 26) at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium in Oshkosh.

The UW-La Crosse scored 99 points to win its sixth NCAA Division III outdoor title in seven years and 11th overall. The Eagles' 2007 crown is the first for rookie head coach Brent Erickson.

The second through fourth place team finishes went to newcomers as State University of New York-Cortland, Monmouth College (Ill.) and St. John’s University (Minn.) all recorded their first top-four finish in school history to take home a trophy.

Runner-up State University of New York-Cortland tallied 34 points while third-place Monmouth College scored 28 and fourth place St. John’s University 27. The University of Wisconsin-Platteville also enjoyed a fourth-place finish with 27 points, their second top-four finish in school history.

The top-10 teams concluded with the 26 points of sixth-place University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, 21 points of seventh-place State University of New York-Brockport and 20 points of eighth-place Augustana College (Ill,.), Mount Union College (Ohio), Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (Calif.), State University of New York-Buffalo, University of Redlands (Calif.) and University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. A total of 79 teams scored points.

UW-La Crosse won the 1,600-meter relay title with the team of David Kolbe, John Doble, Jeremy Deterville and Tony Marcinek. The group set a J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium record with a winning time of 3:11.01. It was UW-La Crosse's fourth 1,600-meter relay crown in the last five years, following victories in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Monmouth College placed second as Dante Daniels, Josh Reschke, Tyler Rundle and Luke Reschke ran to a time of 3:12.06.

McMurry University (Texas) became the sixth different school to win the 400-meter relay in the last six seasons when it won the event with a time of 40.51. The relay team of Chris Kelley, John Mikalik, Bert Green and Hanneus Ollison set a facility record with their winning performance. State University of New York-Cortland placed second in the 400-meter relay as Kevin Ma, John Riese, Matt Bieringer and Amaan Siddeeg posted a time of 40.59.

Mount Union College’s Justin Rodhe won the shot put with a facility record mark of 59-3 1/2. UW-La Crosse’s Bobby Riley was second at 58-1 3/4 and the UW-Whitewater's Dan Hytinen third at 54-6.

Nathan Adkins of the University of Redlands took the triple jump title with a NCAA Division III season’s best and J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium record of 50-2. Kamar James of Fisk University (Tenn.) placed second with a mark of 49-6 1/4 and Nick Kipe of Messiah College (Pa.) third at 48-8.

Will Leer of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges won the 1,500-meter run (3:53.13) with Carnegie Mellon University's (Pa.) Davey Quinn second (3:54.49) and Brian Butzler of UW-Whitewater third (3:55.23).

University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth’s Jonathan Garcia entered Saturday’s 110-meter hurdles final with the top-qualifying time and the finals were no different as he took the lead from the start and never looked back, winning with a time of 14.58. Thiel College’s (Pa.) Dorran Coley finished second (14.83) and UW-Platteville’s Ben Zizis third (14.90).

Lincoln University’s (Pa.) Bobby Young won his third straight 400-meter dash final with a stadium record and NCAA Division III best time of 46.75. Young joins Mike Spangler of Susquehanna University (Pa.) to win three consecutive 400-meter dash titles. Spangler won his titles in 1986, 1987, 1988. Marcinek was second (46.87) while Illinois Wesleyan University’s Matthew Harden placed third (47.02).

Willie Hordge of State University of New York-Buffalo swept the 100 (10.56) and 200 (21.15) meter dashes. State University of New York-Cortland Amaan Siddeeg was second (10.66) and University of Dubuque’s (Iowa) Orlando Walton third (10.68) in the 100-meter dash. Matthew Harden of Illinois Wesleyan University was second (21.44) and Michael Queensland of UW-La Crosse third (21.44) in the 200-meet dash.

Ohio Northern University’s Jimmy O’Brien took the lead with about 75-meters remaining and went on to win the 800-meter run with a time of 1:53.16. O’Brien overtook The College of New Jersey’s Jeff Zodda on the final stretch as Zodda placed second (1:53.53) for the third straight season. Calvin College’s (Mich.) Todd Schuster was third (1:53.59).

Ted McMillan of Augustana College won the 400-meter hurdles with a NCAA Division III season-best and J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium record of 51.50. St. John’s University’s Mike Leither was second (51.97) and Loras College’s (Iowa) Geoff Kaiser third (52.28).

Joel Krebs of George Fox University (Ore.) took the javelin throw with a facility record of 198-8. Ken Ciolek of State University of New York-Brockport was second (195-11) and Kory Kemp of Whitworth College (Wash.) third (191-2).  

Leer ran away from the field in the final lap to capture the 5,000-meter run. A four-man race heading into the last lap, Leer sprinted away for nearly a four-second victory over second-place Tyler Sigl of UW-Platteville. Leer won with a time of 14:25.41 while Sigl was second at 14:29.22. Andy Cloke of State University of New York-Cortland was third in the 5,000-meter run (14:30.54)

Hamilton College (N.Y.) freshman Peter Kosgei made the championship most noteworthy debut racing to a six-second victory in the 3,000-meter steeplechase while recording a NCAA Division III season best time of 8:55.41. Kosgei came into the meet seeded 10th. Chris Erichsen from St. John's University took second in a time of 9:01.12 and Alex Ramon of Occidental College (Calif.) placed third in 9:01.63.

UW-La Crosse's Kevin Becker’s win in the hammer throw was closer to form. The NCAA Division III leader throughout the year, Becker landed a mark of 198-10 on his first throw and withstood a late challenge from State University of New York-Brockport senior Jake Basher (196-1).

The pole vault was the most productive event for UW-La Crosse. Peter Sprecher of Monmouth College (Ill.) and John Heinz of the UW-La Crosse each cleared 16-3 1/4 but Sprecher did so with fewer attempts, securing a national crown in his second championship appearance. Still, the Eagles picked up additional points from Matt Novak, who was part of a three-way tie for third at 15-9 1/4, along with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh's Zach Johnson and Ryan Schipper of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Ind.).

University of Redlands' Francis Nugent held off a late charge from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Kyle Steiner to claim the decathlon crown after a runner-up finish a year ago. Nugent bested the decathlon field in the 110-meter hurdles (15.31 seconds) and discus (138-5), then built a near-insurmountable 226 point lead with a second-place effort in the javelin (181-0), the next-to-last event. Steiner was the top finisher in the final event, the 1,500-meter run (4:24.03), while Nugent was eighth (4:45.44). Despite the harsh conditions on Thursday (May 24), Nugent closed with 7,199 points, well over his season-best of 6,635 and bettering his 2006 total of 7,005.

Augustana College's Ted McMillan emerged from a pack of five high jumpers to claim his first NCAA Division III championship with a leap of 6-9. Al Winsley of Mississippi College, Cody Stelzer of Whitworth College, Mitch Ellis of UW-Stevens Point and Brad Zarembski of Defiance College (Ohio) all cleared 6-8.

Loras College's Geoff Kaiser twice jumped 23-10 3/4 in his early jumps and hung on for a half-inch victory, edging Greg Tyson of Heidelberg College (Ohio), Kamar James of Fisk University and Josh Meckes of Calvin College who all had a mark of 23-10 1/4.

University of UW-Whitewater's Dan Hytinen, the regular-season leader in the discus fouled on his first two throws and was in danger of missing the finals but advanced on his third attempt, then popped the best throw in the NCAA Division III this season with a toss of 178-0 on the final throw of the second round. He outdistanced Rodhe (168-4) and Riley (160-2).

The rain was torrential at the start of the 10,000-meter run but that didn’t deter Sigl, back in the field after finishing 17th in 2005. With four runners tightly bunched heading into the bell lap, Sigl’s kick gave him the title in 30:54.19 with State University of New York-Cortland Andy Cloke (30:55.22) and UW-La Crosse's Paul Moran taking second and third, respectively. .