Three Wabash College track and field athletes earned first place finishes at the 2004 North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Track and Field Championships over the weekend. Nathan Bates (FR/Ossian, IN/Norwell), Eric Morris (FR/Ft. Wayne, IN/Ft. Wayne Snider), and Jon Reidy (SO/Crawfordsville, IN/Culver Military Academy) captured the top spots in their individual events to help the Little Giant team to a fourth place finish in the final standings.
Bates missed an opportunity to win the 400 meters during the indoor season after suffering an injury that shortened his training season. He came back ready to run in the outdoor season and his patience paid off on Saturday when he took the title in the 400-meter run with a time of 48.98, just missing the NCAA provisional qualifying time by .48. Teammate Wes Jacks (JR/West Lafayette, IN/Harrison) earned four additional points in the team scoring for Wabash with a fifth place finish in 400 (50.77).
Morris earned his first conference championship in the discus with a throw of 143 feet, five inches, two feet further than the second place thrower. Sean Gerold (JR/Crawfordsville, IN/Crawfordsville) finished fifth in the discus for Wabash with a throw of 137 feet, ten inches.
The final first place finish came from Reidy in the hammer throw, an event he only started to compete in midway through the season after starting the season as a javelin thrower. Reidy won the event with a throw of 133 feet, a toss that was three feet better than the second place competitor. Gerold took fourth in the hammer (128-03), while Morris was sixth (125-02).
Senior Dan Ruge (Chesterton, IN/Chesterton) was the only other individual to earn All-Conference honors, taking second in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:06.86. He added a sixth place finish in the 800-meter run (1:58.15).
The Little Giants' 4 X 400-meter relay team of Jacks, Josh Jones (FR/North Richland Hills, TX/Nolan Catholic), Steve Cottom (JR/Rosedale, IN/Riverton Parke), and Bates took second place with a time of 3:21.28 to take All-NCAC honors. Jones just missed earning a spot on the All-Conference team in the high jump, finishing fourth overall after clearing the bar at six feet.
Freshman Keith Clayton (Colorado Springs, CO/Fountain Valley School) also missed a spot on the All-Conference team by one place, taking fourth in the 400-meter hurdles (56.11).
Wabash finished with 82 points in the team scoring. Allegheny won the men's title with 213 points. Wittenberg (150.50) and Ohio Wesleyan (116) followed. Denison (64.50), Earlham (64), Wooster (61), Hiram (27), Kenyon (25), and Oberlin (14) rounded out the team scores.