If you are a fan of any winter (and even one spring) sport, this is the weekend to catch a Wabash College athletic event. All four Little Giant winter sports teams will be in action in the Allen Center at some point Saturday.
The action really begins Friday night when the Wabash swimming and diving team heads south to battle arch-rival DePauw University. The Tigers are ranked ninth in the latest DIII swimming coaches poll, but Wabash is hoping to score a repeat of its 172.5 to 127.5 victory in last year's dual meet. Friday night's competition begins at 7 p.m. on the DePauw campus.
The tankers are back in the Class of 1950 Natatorium Saturday afternoon for a 1 p.m. contest against the University of Indianapolis, ranked eighth in the DII polls. Seniors John Kasey, Kyle O'Keefe, Tom Schiltz, and Aaron Spolarich will be honored prior to the start of the meet.
The Little Giant wrestling team begins the Saturday extravaganza with the annual Monon Bell Wrestling Duals in Chadwick Court. Twelve teams will be in action throughout the day in Olympic pool format competition. Wrestling begins at 8 a.m. with the Little Giants taking on Ohio Northern University at 9:30 a.m. on mat number one. Wabash will battle Millikin University at 11 a.m. in the final pool A contest. Competition will continue throughout the day with the finals scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
Just down the hallway from Chadwick Court, the Wabash indoor track and field team will be competing in the annual Alumni Invitational. Field events start at 11:30 a.m. in the Knowling Fieldhouse, with the combined 5000-meter run to start at noon.
The final piece of the winter sports festival takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Chadwick Court. After a quick clean up effort and transformation by Wabash equipment manager Tom Perkins and basketball event coordinator Jeff Oleck, the Wabash basketball team will try for its seventh win in its last eight games when Denison University comes to town. The Little Giants enter the game with a record of 11-5 and are tied for third in the North Coast Athletic Conference with a 5-2 mark.
The spring sports season will also get underway Saturday afternoon. The Little Giant tennis team will play an exhibition match against a group of Wabash alumni at 2 p.m. in the Collett Tennis Center. Juniors Jay Horrey and Sean Clerget will be back in action for the first time this season after studying abroad during the fall semester. They will join the regional-ranked doubles team of Luke Bielawski and William Pelak. The duo is 13th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central region rankings after advancing to the quarterfinals of the ITA Fall Regional Tournament in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
All of the events are free of charge. Make plans to come out and watch all of the Wabash athletes as they compete this weekend.