Freshman Mike Russell (Terre Haute, IN/North Vigo) earned North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Indoor Track Sprints/Hurdles Athlete of the Week honors, helping the Wabash indoor track and field team to a ninth place finish out of 17 teams at Saturday's DePauw University Tiger Invitational.
Russell was a part of the Little Giants' winning 200-meter relay team. The quartet of Keith Clayton (SO/Colorado Springs, CO/Fountain Valley School), Tim Rickard (FR/Valparaiso, IN/Valparaiso), Russell, and Nathan Bates (SO/Ossian, IN/Norwell) won the event with a time of 1:32.62, 4/10th of a second off the meet record time. Russell added a ninth place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.53, his fastest time of the year in the event, a fifth place finish in the long jump (21-06.75), and a sixth place finish in the high jump (6-02).
Freshman Geoff Lambert (Chesterton, IN/Chesterton) won the 600-meter run, crossing the finish line in 1:23.92. Bates added a second place finish in the 400-meter dash with a season-best time of 51.22.
Clayton, Rickard, Russell, and Bates also combined for a fourth place finish in the 400-meter relay (3:30.07), guiding Wabash to its ninth place team finish.
The Little Giants will participate in the Anderson Indoor Invitational this Saturday.