UW-O track teams running headlong toward excellence

In our glory-hungry society, sometimes we seek out individual athletes to praise for their merits. UW-Oshkosh is no different.

In the past month, The Advance-Titan has recognized senior forward D.J. Marsh for his merits on the basketball court. There's no doubt that he is one of the four faces on the Titans men's basketball Mount Rushmore.

This past fall, Titans fans witnessed the last race that senior Ayla Mitchell would run in her UW-Oshkosh career.

Mitchell, who has been named an All-American numerous times in cross-country, indoor and outdoor track and field, also holds two school records on the track team.

However, in our haste to honor the individual, let's not forget about the team.

On March 12 and 13, the UW-Oshkosh women's indoor track and field team was deemed the second-best squad in the nation.

In fact, had Wartburg College (Iowa) not run a Division III season-long best time in the 4x400 meter relay in the final event of the NCAA Championship, the Titans would be polishing a first-place trophy.

Not to be outdone, the Oshkosh men's track team placed fourth out of 65 teams in the national competition as well.

And judging by what senior team members Ben Zill and James Simms said about their team's performance, they were actually disappointed with the result.

Simply put, women's head coach Pat Ebel and men's head coach John Zupanc hold each of the athletes on these teams to a standard that nearly every Division III team in the nation falls well short of.

Ebel, who might be the best weight throw coach in the country, has enjoyed a nearly seamless transition from assistant to head coach in taking over for senior assistant athletic director, Deb Vercauteren.

Vercauteren, a living legend in Division III athletics, recently had the Division III Program of the Year award for cross-country, indoor and outdoor track and field named after her. Not easy shoes to fill for Ebel by any means.

Yet Ebel has done such a good job that in his first season as head coach (he  has been with the Oshkosh program for eight years), he had the team within inches (or seconds) of winning a national title.