Mar. 15, 2008

By Zach Stipe

ADA — Wisconsin-La Crosse won its 15th Indoor National Championship on Saturday at the 2008 NCAA III Indoor Track & Field Championships at the ONU Sports Center.

The Eagles used wins by junior Bobby Riley in the shot put (55-7) and the 4x400-meter relay to capture its seventh indoor team title in eight years with 43 points.

Monmouth (Ill.) finished second with 33 points, while Wisconsin-Platteville and Wisconsin-Oshkosh tied for third with 21 points.

Hamilton sophomore Peter Kosgei used powerful kicks to win the 1-mile run and 800-meter run and earn Men's Track Athlete of the Meet.

Bates senior Noah Gauthier threw a distance of 63-1.5 to win the men's 35-pound weight throw by nearly a foot on Friday to earn Men's Field Athlete of the Meet.

Wisconsin-La Crosse's winning 4x400 relay consisted of Jon Doble, David Kolbe, Alex Rooker and Dylan Randolph. The team clocked a time of 3:19.67 to wins its sixth straight 4x400 crown.

Also contributing to Wisconsin-La Crosse's team title were senior Paul Zdroik in the 1-mile run, Kolbe in the 400-meter dash, junior Jesse Dengsavang in the triple jump, sophomore David Stauder in the high jump and the distance medley relay team.

Zdroik was runner-up in the 1-mile run by .01 seconds to Kosegei, while Kolbe and Dengsavang each finished sixth. Stauder place eighth and the DMR was second on Friday night.

Salem State senior Eddie Bynum repeated as champion in 55-meter dash and set the DIII season best time at 6.25, beating his qualifying time and his time at last years championships.

For the second time in three seasons, Jonathan Garcia of Massachusetts-Dartmouth won the NCAA Championship in the 55-meter hurdles. Garcia edged Jon Schellin, a two-time All-America in the event, by .03 of a second to win the 2008 crown in 7.46.

With an extra burst on the last half of the men’s 400-meter dash, McMurry junior Hanneus Ollison became the national champion with a winning effort of 48.61.

Kosgei edged Zdroik 4:11.17 to 4:11.18 in the 1-mile run and followed with an even more impressive victory in the 800-meter run. Kosegei used a powerful kick on the last lap to blow past the field and win in a NCAA III season-best time of 1:51.97.

Wisconsin-Oshkosh junior Willy Kaul and Wisconsin-Platteville senior Tyler Sigl seperated themselves from the 5,000-meter field over the last few laps and battled to the finish line. In one of the most exciting finishes of the day, Kaul won with a time of 14:23.43, just .01 ahead of Sigl.

Thiel freshman Josh Jones captured his first national championship by taking the high jump title with a leap of 6-11.

Sophomore Kamar James of Fisk University successfully defended his crown in the men’s triple jump James struggled early in his first two attempts including a foul. On his third attempt James soared to 48-9 and a national championship.

On Friday, Monmouth (Ill.) senior Jonny Henkins grabbed the pole vault title with a height of 16-9.5, while Moravian senior Beresford Brown and Gauthier each set NCAA III season-best performances en route to winning field event titles.

Brown won the long jump with a leap of 23-11.75 and Gauthier threw a distance of 63-1.5 to win the 35-pound weight throw by nearly a foot.

In addition, Wisconsin-Platteville’s distance medley relay battled from behind to win first-place in 9:59.71. The relay consisted of senior Cameron Klein, junior Adam Buss, junior Tony Kilburg, and Sigl.

Sigl blew past Zdroik during the last lap of the race to capture the victory by over two seconds over Wisconsin-La Crosse.