A dominating performance by the sprint and distance teams gave Wabash its first North Coast Athletic Conference Relay title on Saturday. The annual race was hosted this year by the Little Giants at the Knowling Fieldhouse.
Wabash finished with 86 points in the team scoring. Denison was second (77), followed by Ohio Wesleyan (71), Wittenberg (48.50), Earlham (40), Allegheny (35), Hiram (31.50), Wooster (25), Kenyon (24), and Oberlin (17). The meet adds the two best performances in individual events to create a combined team score. Five standard, four-person relay races are also scored.
The Little Giants’ first win on the track came in the 4 X 200-meter relay. The team of Chris Morris (SR/Zionsville, IN/Zionsville), Nathan Bates (FR/Ossian, IN/Norwell), Josh Jones (FR/North Richland Hills, TX/Nolan Catholic), and Zach Smith (FR/Newburgh, IN/Castle) finished in 1:34.27, one second ahead of the team from Ohio Wesleyan to capture first place and 10 points for the Little Giants.
Perhaps the most exciting finish of the day came in the distance medley. With Denison’s final runner leading most of the last lap, senior runner and last week’s NCAC Distance Runner of the Week Dan Ruge (Chesterton, IN/Chesterton) battled to cut the lead with only three-quarters of a track to work with. He powered past the Denison runner in the final 10 meters of the race, winning the race for Wabash with a time of 10:41.20, just .17 seconds ahead of the Big Red team.
Ruge joined Morris, Bates, and junior Steve Cottom (Rosedale, IN/Riverton Parke) in the sprint medley to give Wabash another first place finish. The quartet set a new NCAC Relays record in the sprint medley with a time of 3:36.35, 11 seconds ahead of the second place team from Denison. The Little Giant team of Keith Clayton (Colorado Springs, CO/Fountain Valley School), Bates, Wes Jacks (JR/West Lafayette, IN/Harrison), and Cottom captured the top place in the final event of the meet, the 4 X 400 releay with a time of 3:31.02.
Wabash high jumpers Jones and John Taggart (JR/Carmel, IN/Hampton Roads Academy) combined to take first in the high jump relay. Jones cleared 6-04, while Taggart cleared 6-0 to give the Little Giants a combined score of 12-04.
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