Fourteen top-three finishes by members of the Wabash track and field led the Little Giants to first place at Saturday’s 2005 Millikin Track and Field Classic. Wabash finished with 177 points, 20 more than second place Illinois Wesleyan University.
Freshman Mike Russell (Terre Haute, IN/Terre Haute North) paced the Little Giants by scoring a total of 42 points. He was part of the first place 4 X 400-meter relay team of Keith Clayton (Colorado Springs, CO/Fountain Valley School), Bart Banach (Munster, IN/Munster), and Nathan Bates (Ossian, IN/Norwell). The quartet won the event with a time of 3:22.61, just two second of their best time of the year. Russell took third place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.35, while also finishing third in the 200-meter dash (22.57), the high jump (1.91 meters), and the long jump (6.36 meters). Russell, Clayton, Banach, and Bates also added a second in the 4 X 100-meter relay with a time of 42.96. Banach added a fourth place finish in the 100 (11.49) and a fifth in the 200 (22.83).
Dennis Frazee (Griffith, IN/Calumet) crossed the finish line first in the 5,000 meters with a time of 15:55.17. He finished two second ahead of teammate Ethan Paul (Evansville, IN/Reitz Memorial) at 15:57.23. Frazee also added second place points to the Wabash team total in the 1,500-meter run, finishing with a time of 4:07.58, his fastest time of the season.
Clayton and Bates each added ten points to the team score with wins in their respective events. Clayton won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.87. Bates took the top spot in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.94.
Geoff Lambert (Chesterton, IN/Chesterton) won the 800-meter run with a time 1:54.43. Eric Morris (Ft. Wayne, IN/Snider) added a second place finish in the discus with a final mark of 41.06 meters. He was also second in the hammer throw with a personal-best mark of 42.90 meters. Freshman Lincoln Smith (Howe, IN/Lakeland) finished third in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 42.15 meters.
Nelson Barre (Highland Ranch, CO/J.K. Mullen HS – Colorado College) was fourth pole vault, clearing 3.95 meters. Thomas Bell (Carrollton, TX/Hebron) captured fourth in triple jump with a leap of 12.46 meters, his career-best effort. Jon Reidy (Crawfordsville, IN/Culver Military Academy) also had a season-best mark in the hammer with a throw of 40.57 meters, good for fourth place.