WLC Matches Highest Finish At NACC Indoor Championships Since 2007

RIPON, Wis. (WLCSports.com) – Wisconsin Lutheran College tied its highest finish in program history with a third-place team showing at the 2026 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday and Saturday at Willmore Center. The Warriors' placing and point output was their highest since 2007, the first year the conference contested the indoor championships.

Leading the way for WLC was senior Abuchi Osuala (Milwaukee, Wis.), who set a new school record in the 60m, finishing as conference runner-up in 6.84 seconds and breaking his own program mark. Sophomore Patrick Manning-Davis Jr. (Dallas, Texas) recorded a third-place finish, coming in at 6.96. Osaula also was third in the 200m, finishing in 22.47 seconds.

The Warriors recorded runner-up finishes from their Distance Medley Relay and 4x400m Relay teams. The DMR of freshman Caleb Schreiber (Mukwonago, Wis.), sophomore Caden Strubbe (Madison, Wis.), freshman Sam Splinter (Ixonia, Wis.), and junior Silas Ebeling (Wauwatosa, Wis.) clocked a school-record time of 10:32.73. WLC's 4x400m Relay of senior Isiah Krenek (Aurora, Ill.), Strubbe, Schreiber, and Splinter finished in 3:27.20.

Junior Arnold Rupnow (Watertown, Wis.) grabbed another second-place finish in the 5,000m, finishing in 15:21.73.

In a pair of third-place finishes, Strubbe also grabbed a place on the podium in the 400m, coming in at 50.61 seconds, while Rupnow finished the 3000m in 8:47.19.

Splinter and Schreiber were neck-in-neck in the 800m, finishing in fourth and fifth at 1:57.31 and 1:58.95, respectively. 

Sophomore Sam Ehlke (Jackson, Wis.) leaped to fourth place in the Triple Jump, finishing at a season-best 13.61m. 

MSOE won its fourth NACC title with 178.83 points.

Wisconsin Lutheran will next compete at the Firebird Finale and Ripon Final Qualifier on Friday and Saturday.