A first-place finish came easily for the Titans men’s track and field team at the UW Oshkosh Titan Open at Kolf Sports Center.

The team finished the meet with 279 points, with the next closest being Michigan Tech with 106.

Head coach Eamon McKenna said the depth of the team, as well as overall talent has given Oshkosh an edge.

“We have an advantage over the other schools at that meet in depth and in the quality of our athletes,” McKenna said. “This is a result of the hard work that our former and current coaches … have done recruiting quality student athletes to come to UW Oshkosh.”

Senior Nick Baatz improved upon his school record for shot put, with a throw of 18.65 meters.

Sophomore Kenny Halloran posted personal bests in both the 1,200 and 800-meter runs, putting up times of 3 minutes and 4.81 seconds and 1:58.72 respectively. Sophomore Matt Champan also put up a personal best in his dominating mile run with a time of 4:21.69.

Sophomore Reid Zanoya, said early victories for the team could be vital to high level performance going on.

“Early success is a good motivator for the team,” Zanoya said. “It shows the upperclassmen that we’re where we need to be in order to continue to do well, and it gives the freshmen a little taste of being successful in a collegiate sport.”

A dominating performance by the women’s track and field team had them finish with 265.5 points, with the closest competition being St. Norbert with 142.

Co-interim head coach Dr. Drew Ludtke said the goal in the early season is not a high team score but preparing for the season ahead.

“In our sport, we often have meets with a goal to run races that are best for each athlete and sometimes the early season team score has to take a backseat,” Ludtke said. “The goal of this meet was to prep for the end of the year and the team score worked out in our favor as a bonus.”

Three runners finished as national leaders as well, those being senior Breanna Strupp for the shot put, senior Sam Loew for the weight throw and senior Christy Cazzola for the mile run.

Cazzola’s mile run time of 4:44.73 came with extra significance, as it ranked her third all-time in Division III.

Cassy Hemmen, placed first in both the 60 and 200-meter dashes with times of 7.99 seconds and 26.74 respectively.

“Obviously it felt good to win, but I was more concerned with my times,” Hemmen said. “I ran a personal best in both races, which was what I was most concerned with doing. The competition that we faced doesn’t really compare to what we will be facing at the conference meet, but it was still a confidence booster to do well in our home meet.”