The second weekend of March for the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Titans is going to be next level madness.

The women’s basketball team will be dancing in the DIII Sweet 16 at 5 p.m. Friday in Whitewater. Twenty-two track and field athletes and three Titan wrestlers also will be on the road to compete in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, respectively.

Sound familiar? Feeling a little déjà vu?

That’s because back in March 2020, student-athletes from these same sports were all primed for national competition when the pandemic cancelled their dreams.

Coach Brad Fischer said having a second chance “means everything” to Titan women’s basketball and the 13 athletes who are still on the team two years later.

“For me it’s felt like one long two-year season in some respects,” he said. “We didn’t get any closure in 2020, and really not a whole lot in 2021. So to be able to get back to the tournament this year, and now make a little run, I think we appreciate it all more than we maybe ever have before.”

Getting the opportunity to showcase their abilities at the indoor track and field national championship meet this weekend “definitely feels like a second chance,” said Coach Justin Kinseth.

Six Titans who qualified back in 2020 are ready to finally have their shot.

“They simply kept working towards being the best version of themselves,” Kinseth said. “We believe in being focused on the process and allowing the results to fall as they may. Our returners view athletics as simply part of their life journey, and so it’s easy to be ready when you never left being an athlete.”

One of those “returners” is senior Jonathan “Jono” Wilburn, of Evanston, Illinois, who heads to the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem this weekend retaining his 2020 status as the top seed in the triple jump.

“Jono is dedicated to the craft of being a well-balanced student-athlete. His competitive nature is what separates him from others who are at his level of ability. We never stepped away from the track, and he is performing at this level because he has stayed ready,” Kinseth said.

Another Titan who is ready to pick up where he left off in 2020 is senior Jordan Lemcke, of Rogers, Minnesota. He heads with teammates Preston Morgan, a sophomore from Berlin; and Beau Yineman, a junior from Neenah, to the DIII wrestling championship this weekend at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Coach Efrain Ayala said Lemcke, who wrestles in the 285 weight class, has been “nothing short of a champion in all this chaos.”

“Jordan has used this time to make significant gains both mentally and physically,” Ayala said. “He saw this as an opportunity and he took it. I am proud of the actions he took to put himself in a place to be a national champion this year. He is beyond ready to make this happen!”

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• Titan March madness updates
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