LA CROSSE, Wis.- Joshua Rivers (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) won his third-straight outdoor national title and Gavin Fritsch (Little Chute/Little Chute Career Pathways Academy) secured his first outdoor title on Thursday (May 21) as UW-Oshkosh opened the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship at Roger Harring Field at Veterans Memorial Sports Complex in La Crosse.
 
The Titans own a championship-best 24 points through the first day of competition, 10 from Rivers' win, another 10 from Fritsch's, and four from Dylan Doss' (Sterling, Ill./Sterling) fifth-place placement in the long jump. St. Olaf College (Minn.) is second with 11 points, Cornell College (Iowa) is third with 10, and host UW-La Crosse is fourth with nine.
 
Rivers completed his three-year sweep of both the indoor and outdoor individual championships with a 7.86-meter distance in his first attempt of the day. The jump moved him to the top of the event's leaderboard and bested the next highest mark by more than four inches. Rivers' total of six combined national titles is the most in program history.
 
Doss marked off a best jump of 7.44 meters to earn his fourth career All-America medal with the Titans and his first outdoor top-eight finish. Caleb Wright (Oswego, Ill./Oswego), who also qualified for the championship in the long jump, was named a second team All-American by the U.S. Track & Field after taking 12th at 7.16 meters.
 
Fritsch mirrored his performance at this winter's indoor championship by winning an event a year after taking second. He threw a personal best 55.17 meters to win the discus title a year after throwing 51.97 meters at last year's championship. Indoors, Fritsch was the weight throw champion a season after finishing as the runner-up.
 
Doss will compete in the final round of the 200-meter dash on Saturday after taking fourth in the preliminary round with a 21.14-second finish. Nolan Milas (Virgil, Ill./Burlington Central) just missed out on qualifying for the final round, running a 21.38 for 10th place.
 
The 4x400-meter relay squad of Sean Malay (Denmark/Denmark), Tyran Bender (Bradley, Ill./Bradley-Bourbonnais Community), Matthew Eiden (Stevens Point/SPASH) and Londyn Little (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) will not race in the final round after taking 12th at 3:12.65.
 
Cameron Cullen (Kewaunee/Kewaunee) took 12th in the 10,000-meter run, earning USTFCCCA All-America Second Team honors in 29:57.84.
 
The two-day decathlon began on Thursday and will conclude on Friday. Cavan Dobberstein (Manawa/Fox Valley Lutheran) currently sits eighth with 3,584 points and Bryce Smith (De Pere/West De Pere) is 13th with 3,463.
 
The Titans will continue competition at the national championship on Friday (May 22) before wrapping up the three-day meet on Saturday (May 23).